Naruto: Dragons of Konoha
by Aaron2014
Summary: Have you ever wondered what the Naruto universe would of been like if it had dragons? Well in this story Naruto trains to become a Dragon Rider Shinobi along becoming the next Hokage. Naruto takes Hiccups place as Toothless' partner. Hiccup's dragon partner replaced with a Skrill. Main couples: NaruHina, HicAstrid, etc. Rating T- Minor M
1. Dragons Among the Leaves

**Chapter 1: Dragons Among the Leaves**

_Konohagakure, aka The Village Hidden within the Leaves, is a home to people who work to keep it safe, ninja. For over 100 years, ninja over the Five Great Nations have been keeping the peace from bandits and of course themselves. In Konoha, we have many things ranging from shopping, fishing, hiking and shinobi work. We also have pets. Other villages have cats, dogs, and even horses. We have those but something more. We have…_

During nighttime over Konoha, a shadow zooms above the clouds. The owner of the shadow was a large lizard-like creature whose anatomy resembles that of a Pterosaur, spikes jutting out of back and tail. The overall scale color was purple while its back was light and striped while its belly was a darker shade. On the creatures back was a man riding on a saddle. He was average build with brown shaggy hair and brown eyes. He was wearing a black shirt, brown pants, a Chūnin vest and two ANBU armguards. Another feature noticed is that he has a prosthetic left leg. The creature he was riding is known as a…

_Dragons! For ten years dragons have been living within Konoha. Before that we were at war with them during the late Third Shinobi World War. During that time I was just a Genin, though not very reliable. Where are my manners? My name is Shakkuri Tara, head to the Tara clan. The dragon below me is my partner and best friend, Mjölnir. He's a species of dragon called a Skrill. His species is highly allusive and secretive. They're known to ride lightning bolts to reach past the sound barrier. Thanks to this they've also gained the ability to coat themselves with electricity as well as spit bolts of electricity at their enemies. Some say that if you're near this dragon your hair will stand on end._

_ Now that we finished the minor lesson lets continue. It was thanks to me and Mjölnir that we were able to bring peace between the village and the dragons. If it wasn't for us there wouldn't be a village actually. During the near end of the war, enemy forces unleashed a force that most of the ninja couldn't handle. It was known as the Seadragonus Giganticus Maximus, aka The Red Death. It was the largest dragon to ever exist. Around the size of a boss Summon animal, this dragon was considered a queen of dragons, until it was slain by me and Mjölnir._

_ Right now the war is over and peace right now is sustained for the moment. Nothing could possibly-_

_**BOOM!**_

The sound of a minor explosion took place at one of the village's guard towers at the wall. The shinobi gathered near the site while others trying to put out the fire from the explosion. Civilians near the area heard and were starting to evacuate away from the area the explosion took place.

_Sometimes I need to keep my thoughts to myself…_

The dragon and his rider then dived down to the destruction area landing near the closest shinobi. Shakkuri then dismounted his dragon and ran up to the Chūnin.

"What happened?" Shakkuri asked.

"Don't know Shakkuri-sama," the Chūnin said. "We were doing our regular patrol when-"

He was cut off when all of the shinobi heard a high pitch closing-in shriek then suddenly a ball of blue plasma hit another guard tower causing it to explode and sending another patrol to be throwing out by the force. As that happened, a dark silhouette zoomed past the destroyed tower at lightning speed.

"It's back!" a random shinobi shouted. The shinobi then started scrambling a few of them mounting on several dragons. Shakkuri didn't waste as he mounted back on Mjölnir and they took off to the skies. Shakkuri looked around for the perpetrator until he saw the silhouette.

"Gotcha!" he said as he gestured his dragon to speed after it. Mjölnir complied and started giving chase.

_You're wondering what's happening right now? Well for over five years a single wild dragon has been attacking Konoha. I and Mjölnir over that time have been trying to catch it, unfortunately no success. What dragon is it you ask? According to the Book of Dragons, it's the unholy offspring of lightning and the Shinigami itself. The most elusive and mysterious dragon to exist, it's called the…_

"NIGHT FURY!" a random shinobi said as a ball of plasma hits another guard tower successively in an explosion of heat and debris. The silhouette zoomed past the shinobi among the destruction with Shakkuri and Mjölnir not too far behind.

The Skrill chased after the elusive Night Fury hoping to cut it off. Unfortunately the Night Fury was also known as the fastest of all the known dragon species, while the Skrill was ranged the second.

"Come on, bud!" Shakkuri shouted assuring to his dragon. "We have to catch it before it causes any more damage!" Mjölnir roared in agreement as he tried to push harder in his flying. No matter harder he tried he couldn't catch up to the Night Fury.

_ It may look like this story is about us but it isn't. In fact I believe the protagonist is about to make his appearance._

Among the commotion, a boy around the age of ten was running around the crowd of ninja. He had blonde hair and blue eyes while wearing a white shirt with a whirlpool symbol in the middle as well as wearing black shorts with black blue shinobi sandals. On his face were distinctive birthmarks that looked like three whiskers on each cheek. This was Naruto Uzumaki, the village's pariah. He may seem to look like a young little boy on the outside but the villagers think differently.

For most of his life, Naruto was despised and hated by the adults of the village. Why? Well that's an answer he didn't quite know about. Even though he was hated and in fact beaten almost to death he doesn't hate the villagers. He doesn't understand why they do it but why hate someone when even you don't have the answer for?

Right now was a normal routine for Naruto. During these attacks he tries to prove himself to show the village that he isn't a burden. In the end though, something ends up either falling apart or hurting someone. As he was looking for ways to help he was then plucked out of the air. He looked up to see it was Mjölnir who then looked down at him and gave the young boy and toothy smile. Naruto smiled back for a bit until he was set down and was in front of Shakkuri. His gaze looked down on the blonde like a god's wrath being brought down upon the earth.

"Naruto," Shakkuri scolded. "How many times do I have to tell you that you can't be out here when there's a dragon attack? You could be hurt or worse!"

"Why should I?" Naruto complained. "I want to help too! But I always get shoved away-"

"For a good reason," Shakkuri then interrupted. "Naruto, I can't live knowing that you'd get hurt. If that happened I'd never forgive myself."

Naruto then folded his arms, pouting while muttering, "So what you're not my dad or anything."

Shakkuri then felt a pain like someone shooting an arrow into his chest. That one sentence hurt him every time the boy said it. He sighed as he got on one knee and placed his hand on the boys shoulder.

"Naruto, I-"

"Shakkuri-sama!" a random Jōnin interrupted as he landed near them. "The Night Fury was spotted near the south gate entrance. It's already taken out two more guard towers."

Shakkuri sighed then looked back at Naruto, "We'll talk about this later okay?"

Naruto grumbled a bit then nodded. He then felt something scaly on his palm and looked to see Mjölnir nuzzling it. The boy smiled and petted the dragon's snout who purred at his touch. Then the large reptile walked over to Shakkuri as he mounted him before both look back to the young boy then towards the Jōnin.

"Find someone to look after him." He ordered the Jōnin, who nodded. Then he and the dragon took off like a lightning bolt towards the south gate.

Naruto watched the dragon rider fly off and sighed. One day, he'll be a ninja as well a dragon rider. Within the village, being a ninja and a dragon rider is everything. Sure there are a majority of non-dragon riding ninja in the village but Naruto wanted the big goal. Not only to become a dragon-riding ninja but to be Hokage as well. Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted when something lifted him up by the back of his shirt causing him to struggle.

"Hey put me down!" He shouted trying to pull out his captor's grip. He then noticed that his captor's hand felt hard like metal.

"Settle down, lad" the owner of the voice said in a thick Scottish accent. "It's not like I'm going to bite ya."

Naruto then turned to see a familiar face. The man was big and burly, with a face not the most pleasant. He was almost Shakkuri's height, but with a bigger midsection with a beer belly. He had blonde hair as well as a long blonde mustache that was braided. His teeth were a bit unstraightened while also sporting a fake tooth sticking out of his lower jaw. He wore a yellow sleeveless shirt with light brown pants and a belt buckle as well as sporting a Jōnin vest. He also wears a helmet similar to a Vikings with the Konoha headband tied to it. The most known features of this man were his prosthetic limbs on his left hand and right foot.

This man was known as Kuzuri, friend of the Tara Clan as well as being Shakkuri's previous teacher/boss/uncle. Now he's Naruto's semi-teacher/boss/caretaker/uncle. The large man then carried the blonde to his nearby forge stand and started getting to business. Like Shakkuri before, Naruto was given the task to help forge shinobi weapons, tools and other things to the ninja populace. Tonight he wished he wasn't stuck in the forge right now.

"Come on, sensei!" Naruto pouted as he begrudgingly put on his apron. "I want to get out there and make my mark."

The blacksmith chuckled at his apprentice's antics then poked him in the chest, "You'll make a mark, alright, all in the wrong places."

"Give me two minutes." He pleaded to his mentor. "In that time I'll capture that dragon and have it hog-tied. Then the villagers won't think low of me and stop treating me like dirt. I might even get a girlfriend!"

Kuzuri sighed at this. He knew about the conflicts the villagers put Naruto in. Still blaming him for something he had no control over around 9 years ago. Still looking at the young boy, he sighed again and said, "Look Naruto, I hate to tell ya this. You're not yet shinobi material." He then started stating out the many flaws the boy had, "You ain't old enough to take on anyone or anything let alone a full-grown dragon. You can't lift a hammer, you can't swing an axe," he then lifted some bolos, "You can't even throw one of these." After saying that a random ninja part of the Dragon Sky Police snatched the bolos out of his hand as he and the dragon he was riding took to the air.

"Well what do you expect?" Naruto countered while sharpening a kunai on a grinder. "It's not like anyone helps train me to do those things." After saying that Kuzuri felt the same pain in his chest like Shakkuri felt before. Because of a certain village secret, no one ever lifted a finger to help the boy. Not with his training or his life.

The blacksmith sighed again then turned around to sharpen some katanas, "I know, lad. Anyways keep sharpening those weapons we got a few orders to fill."

"Hai, sensei," Naruto answered as he continued the sharpening. As he continued his work, Naruto went back to a previous thought before he was dragged to the forge by Kuzuri. Ever since he was younger he dreamed of becoming a dragon rider shinobi as well reaching the title of Hokage. Once he did that he'd earn the village's respect.

Suddenly another ball of plasma hit near the forge on one of the buildings. The explosion caused debris to fly in multiple directions and cause a fire to spread on the roof. Shinobi around Chūnin and Genin tried putting out the fires. Kuzuri saw this and turned to his blonde-haired apprentice.

"Man the forge, Naruto," Kuzuri said as he changed the attachment to his prosthetic hand from coal tongs to a mace. "They need me out there. Stay. Put. There. You're smart enough to know what I mean," then shouted out with a loud, "YAARGG!" He sprinted into the chaos.

Shaking his head a bit, the ten year old looked around to see if the coast was clear. Seeing that it was he then went into the back and started pushing out a medium-sized bolo cannon. It was small enough for him to push with his might because the large one would take a teenager or adult to push. He then rushes out with one goal in mind: spot, take down and capture a Night Fury.

Naruto ran as fast as he could through the crowd hoping to get to the place where he knew he could catch the dragon in time. As he went through the crowd, he got a few hateful glares, ignored looks or being told to get to safety. He didn't care when he finally reached his destination. Thanks to a ramp that leads to one of the outer wall guard towers, Naruto started setting up the bolo cannon and to take aim. His focus on the early morning sky hoping to anything remotely that looks like the Night Fury.

Unfortunately no one knew what a Night Fury looked like. Within the Book of Dragons there's an entry for the Night Fury. Sadly the only entry for it was its species name. No picture, no known speed or size. That didn't stop Naruto though. No matter the appearance or size of the dragon he intended to capture it.

Fifteen minutes had passed, Naruto sighed out of boredom. He felt like for the first time in his life that he'd give up. Suddenly at the corner of his he saw it, the silhouette was homing in on one of the nearby guard towers. Naruto got back onto the bolo cannon and took aim. As soon as the ball of plasma hit the guard tower and the silhouette passed by, Naruto took the gamble, aimed and fired. The bolos soared through the air at a high speed. Naruto watched as the shadow looked like it became entangled by the bolos. The result was a surprised shriek as the dragon itself fell into the distant forest.

Naruto's eyes widen at what happened. He accomplished something that the shinobi of Konoha hadn't. He single-handedly brought down a Night Fury. For a ten-year old boy, he did the one thing anyone in this situation did. He cheered.

"I HIT IT!" he shouted as he celebrated. "I believe that qualifies me well enough to become the new Ho-," He was interrupted from the sound of a certain bolo cannon getting smashed. He turned around to see a dragon smashed the bolo cannon. The dragon was large with the anatomy of a Pterosaur like Mjölnir. Its scales were crimson on its back with a tanned underbelly with horns on its skull. This species of dragon was known as the Monstrous Nightmare. On its back was a random Jōnin who was part of the Dragon Sky Police who was glaring at Naruto.

"Gaki," the Jōnin said. "You're in big trouble this time." The Monstrous Nightmare he was riding snarled in agreement as some of the kerosene gel it used to ignite itself dripped from its maw burning a bit of the wall. Naruto chuckled sheepishly while slumping a bit and cursing his bad luck.

Back in the village, groups of ninja were looking over the damage the Night Fury caused and making sure there were no casualties. Then Mjölnir landed and Shakkuri dismounted while meeting up with a random Jōnin.

"Report!" he ordered. The Jōnin pulled out a clipboard which had the written report.

"Shakkuri-sama," the Jōnin said. "The Night Fury bombarded the North, East and West side guard towers. Some of the South side guard towers were bombarded as well but only one was destroyed. A few buildings in the surrounding area have partial damage only ranging to minor injuries. No deaths so far."

"Well at least no one got seriously hurt." Shakkuri muttered. He then looked to the group of shinobi and called out, "Okay everyone! We need to start rebuilding those guard towers. They are our top priority at the moment. Once that's finished we'll be working on the buildings that were damaged. Hopefully we can get this done by then. You know your assignments so move out!"

The group nodded and separated in a shinobi fashion. Once that happened, Shakkuri sighed. These attacks from the Night Fury were getting more recent. He didn't know what but somehow whatever is causing it to attack must involve Konoha somehow. Right now he had to worry about the reconstruction of the attack. He then saw his cousin, Hanajiru, coming in on his Monstrous Nightmare, Hookfang, also seeing a blonde-haired being carried in the claws of the Nightmare struggling.

"Oh Kami," he grumbled in displeasure knowing what was going to happen next. He then walked over to Hanajiru as he landed dropping Naruto on his bottom hard. Naruto cursed a bit, rubbing his bottom while glaring at the man and his dragon. "What did he do this time, Hanajiru?" Shakkuri asked though knowing the answer already.

"I caught this little troublemaker messing with a bolo cannon on the south wall." He said. "By the look of it the cannon was already fired. What were you firing at kid, a flock of bats?"

Naruto smirked at this. Now he can reveal to the ninja about his accomplishment. He started to puff out his chest and did a stance similar to that of a super hero. He chuckled at the dragon rider as he turned to him.

"You want to know what I fired at, huh?" Naruto chuckled more. "I'll tell you! All of you will know the name that is Naruto Uzumaki after you hear this! I, Naruto Uzumaki, shot down the dragon you all couldn't catch. I shot down the Night Fury!"

Silence was amongst the crowd, Naruto was beaming with pride. There was nothing to ruin this-

**HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!**

Naruto was caught off guard what he was hearing. They were laughing at him. Of all of the things he thought they'd do, they ended up laughing him. He felt anger starting to build up as he kept hearing random ninja giving him slurs and joking how a ten year old caught the Night Fury. Tears started to form in the boy's eyes. In all of his life he's never been laughed at, only by the younger generation. Today though made it the first time he was ever laughed at by the adults.

"ENOUGH!" A voice shouted out. The shinobi cringed then turned around to see the very man in charge of the entire village. It was Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage and aka the Shinobi no Kami. "I will not have this in my village. Now I want every shinobi here back to reconstruction, NOW!"

After giving the command the shinobi scrambled in fear of their leaders wrath, leaving only Hiruzen, Shakkuri, Mjölnir and Naruto behind. Shakkuri was about to leave when he was stopped by the aged Hokage.

"Shakkuri, stay a moment." he said while turning to Naruto, who shrunk a bit at his gaze. "I want to know what the situation is. What happened?"

Shakkuri sighed about what was about to come. So he told the Sandaime the situation involving the Night Fury attack to Naruto's outburst and ending where the Hokage himself ordered the reconstruction finished. Hiruzen nodded and turned his attention to Naruto.

"Naruto," the Hokage asked. "Can you tell me what happened before you made your...announcement?"

Naruto gulped a bit then said, "Well…I…shot down a Night Fury?" He chuckled sheepishly but then saw Hiruzen's expression. Hiruzen had an unreadable expression on his face but then sighed before turning to Shakkuri.

"I'm appointing you to look after him for the rest of the day." Ordered the Sandaime. With that order, the aged Hokage left to overlook the repair.

Shakkuri sighed then looked at Naruto. He saw the boy's expression which showed sadness with tears starting to form in his eyes. He walked over to the blonde and laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. Naruto looked up as a tear started to fall.

"Let's head back to my house," he said. "There you can rest and relax. Maybe Asuto-chan can make certain dish that has noodles in it?" He looked over at Naruto and saw his eyes brighten up hearing the hint to the boy's favorite meal, ramen.

Ramen was Naruto's favorite food in the entire world. Every ninja in the village knew that this boy could never stop eating the stuff. Sure most people have a couple bowls but Naruto has over 24 to 25 as a full course meal. You'd be sorry if you were the one to pay for the bill.

Luckily for Shakkuri, the meal this time was going to be homemade. His wallet had suffered much from Naruto's ramen binges. Last time that happened, the wallet looked like a deflated beach ball from the bill. Another point was that whenever Shakkuri's wife, Asuto, ever cooked was as if the gods touched the food themselves.

Shakkuri picked up Naruto and place him on Mjölnir then mounted the Skrill. With a simple command the dragon took to the skies. Naruto loved the feel of the wind in his face. It felt like he was the one flying instead of the dragon. He'll feel this every day once he became a Dragon Rider shinobi. Till then he either got rides from Shakkuri or walk back and forth to the academies.

While in flight, both didn't say much. Each had their thoughts to themselves. Shakkuri thinking about what to do about the constant Night Fury attacks. Naruto thinking about the Night Fury he shot down, that no one believed him about. Naruto looked up to the older man and broke the silence.

"Sensei?" he asked. Shakkuri then looked down at the blonde.

"Yeah, Naruto?" the rider asked as the boy.

"You believe me, right?"

That was four words Shakkuri didn't want to hear. How could he explain to a child that it would be impossible for a single 10-year-old child to bring down a Night Fury? He went over it through his head countless time but nothing came so far. So he went with the only but hard option; the truth.

"Naruto," he said. "You already know the answer to that."

"But why?" he asked. "I was telling the truth. I did shoot it down."

"Do you have any evidence?" Shakkuri asked with a raised brow. Naruto's answer was a minor head droop and a sigh. Mjölnir looked up at the boy growling in comfort. The blonde answered with a minor comfort pat to the dragon's neck. The Skrill purred a bit before focusing back to flying.

A few minutes later, they arrived at the Tara Clan compound. The compound was located east of the Hyūga compound but not as large. They landed near the largest building in the compound. It was around two-stories which also has a large backyard for training. Landing at the front, Shakkuri and Naruto dismounted the dragon and walked up to the door. Before reaching it, a bipedal dragon which looked bird-like in appearance appeared. It had a large head which the mouth looked like a beak where a horn is also seen on its nose tip. It had a crown of spikes on the back of its head as well as spines on its tail. Most of its scale color was blue with an underbelly being white. Its wings were yellow with a few minor colors to it.

This dragon was known as the Deadly Nadder, the most beautiful of the dragons. It is said that the Nadder had the hottest fire of the dragons which was known to even melt chakra-enhanced steel. Even though it had the hottest fire, the Deadly Nadder was part of the Sharp-class of the dragon group. The spines on its tail are venomous and can be shot out like arrows at the enemy.

The Nadder landed near Shakkuri and which chirped a bit and sniffed the man then to Naruto. Its spines flexed in satisfaction as Shakkuri petted the Nadder on the bridge of its nose. Mjölnir growled to the Nadder who then growled back as if they were in conversation. Naruto couldn't help but smile at the two dragons.

"Stormfly," A voice called out. This got the Nadder's attention and trotted to the door. The owner of the voice was a woman around Shakkuri's age. She had long blonde hair in braids, blue eyes and some freckles near her nose and on her cheeks. She was wearing a long dress that suited soon-to-be mothers, which wasn't far from the truth. Another noticeable feature was her pregnant stomach which looked close to 8 or 9 months pregnant. This was Asuto Tara, wife of Shakkuri Tara and the matriarch of the Tara Clan.

The blonde woman petted her dragon's snout who responded with a minor chatter. She then walked over to her husband and gave him a warmth-filled kiss. Once finished, both smiled at each other and Asuto then turned her attention to the spikey-blonde child.

"Well," she said. "Looks like you'll be joining us for breakfast again, huh?"

"The Sandaime told me to look after him for the day," Shakkuri said as he ruffled Naruto's hair, who pouted a bit trying to get him to stop messing with his hair.

"Well he's always welcome here." She said then turned to her dragon. "Right, Stormfly?" The Nadder responded by giving Naruto a big slobbery lick to his cheek, causing him to cringe a bit.

"Yuck!" he complained. "Nadder drool."

The couple laughed along with Mjölnir, who sounded like a barking seal. Naruto groaned a bit as he tried to wipe the dragon spit off. One thing about dragon spit, it never washes off easily. He one time had a bad experience with some Terrible Terrors a year ago. Asuto had a party trying clean his clothes…for 5 days.

The three along with the Skrill went inside the house and headed for the kitchen. Shakkuri and Naruto sat at the table, Mjölnir laid down next to Shakkuri while Asuto wrapped an apron around her waist then started making breakfast. Five minutes later, Asuto brought in the big bowl of Bacon and Egg Ramen and setting it down on the table.

As the ramen hit the table, Naruto got a bowl from the larger one and started gorging himself. The couple laughed at the child's antics and started on their first bowl as well. Asuto then poured a bowl for the Skrill and placed it in front of him. The dragon growled happily then gorged himself into the bowl. Asuto smiled as she too gorged in her breakfast. Both she and Naruto started a minor eating contest. Shakkuri smiled while watching the two. Mjölnir started to join in as well as Shakkuri gave him more bowls of ramen.

But like all the other times, Naruto always won. 24 bowls out against 12 bowls made him still the champ. Shakkuri thought that when the blonde got older then he could out eat a member of the Akimichi clan. Asuto giggled as she grabbed the loads of dirty dishes. Shakkuri helped carry most of them to the sink. Suddenly a knock at the door was heard. Shakkuri answered it and at the door was an ANBU shinobi wearing a weasel mask.

"Shakkuri-sama" the ANBU said in a calm tone. "Sandaime-sama requires you to attend a council meeting today." Shakkuri sighed then turned to his wife.

"I have to attend a meeting today. Could you watch over Naruto till I get back?"

She answered him with a peck on the lips and a smile. "Don't worry I'll keep an eye on him."

With that Shakkuri gave a shrilling whistle and immediately Mjölnir scurried out of the house and glides next to him. He then mounted the Skrill waving to the two then took to the skies towards the council building. With that both Asuto and Naruto went back inside.

Asuto then went to the kitchen again and started cleaning the dishes. She then turned to Naruto, who entered the kitchen as well, and gestured at him.

"Why don't you go upstairs and take a rest?" she said. "You do have school tomorrow after all."

Naruto sighed then headed upstairs to the guest room. He laid on the bed looking at the ceiling with his mind elsewhere. He thought of the Night Fury and where it landed. Even though the others didn't believe him he would prove them wrong. He was going to go find the Night Fury and bring it back to the village.

He looked out the door downstairs. Seeing the coast was clear he closed the door and went towards the window. Opening it he looked down seeing that it was only the second story drop, he jumped and landed silently. Thanks to the ninja training he got at one of the academies he was fine from the drop. He looked around then headed for the direction of the village wall.

Thanks to not being entitled to ninja status, he could freely go in or out of the village whenever he wanted. Even though the Sandaime scolded him countless times it never stopped him. Right now Naruto had a mission to complete, a mission that'll change the history of the village. Naruto went out into the forest stealthily to find the one dragon everyone feared. Naruto went out in search for the dragon known as the Night Fury.


	2. Council Meeting and Dragon Hunting

Well folks here's chapter 2 for ya! Hopefully you'll enjoy this one :3

**Chapter 2: Council Meeting and Dragon Hunting**

It was morning at the village council building. Here is where the clan and civilian heads come together to discuss village matters either be it economic or shinobi matters. Today is different though. Today council discuss about the certain scourge on their village, the Night Fury. Most of the Civilian Council members were discussing on how to get rid of the certain pest. The Shinobi Council however were either ignoring the Civilians or minding their own business.

The sounds of the doors opening caught the attention of both sides as they looked as Shakkuri Tara and Mjölnir walked in. Most of the Civilians had a sneering look on their faces as they saw the Skrill and its master take their place in the Tara clan seat. They knew that the head of the Tara Clan cared for the "demon child". Since he had the Skrill, he could win any argument considering the dragon sparked every time they antagonized either Shakkuri or Naruto.

"Tara-san," one of the civilian councilors said. "How many times do we have to tell you? No pets during council meetings. This isn't a barn!"

Shakkuri's eye twitched a bit from that statement. What right did they have to order anyone of the Shinobi status around? They lived in a military-ruled village for Kami's sake! They don't have the power to give orders. He decided to let the councilor know who's in charge.

"Councilor," Shakkuri said. "Let me give you a little lesson. One, Mjölnir isn't a pet. He's a member of my clan as well as the patriarch of the dragon branch of the Tara Clan. He has in every right to be here as is Tsume-san's partner, Kuromaru. Three, you are not my superior. Only the Hokage and only the Hokage has the right to order us of the Shinobi Council. So it'd be the best option to not antagonize either of us."

Shakkuri filled that last sentence with a bit of killing intent which had the councilor shaking. Mjölnir was growling at the councilor with the same intent as well as electricity surging through his body. Couple clan heads sitting nearby had their hair standing up on end from the Skrill's Shock ability. The noticeable ones were Hiashi Hyūga, Fugaku Uchiha and Murakumo Kurama. A few of the shinobi councilors silently chuckled at the new look of their fellow councilors.

"Tara-san," Hiashi said. "Though I'd love to continue watch you put the civilians in their place. Could please calm down your dragon? If this keeps up Hikari will have the camera out taking countless pictures back at our compound."

Shakkuri chuckled at this then went to calming down the dragon. It took a few minutes but it calmed down well enough to where it wasn't using the Shock ability anymore. The three Clan heads proceeded to set their hair back down. Then the sound of the council room doors opening grabbed their attention to see Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage, walk into the room to his designated seat.

Silence went around the room as all the members focused on their leader. The Sandaime looked around then looked over the files of the discussion today. The Hokage coughed a bit then sat up straight getting the meeting started.

"Today's council meeting will now begin." He said. He then looked over to one of the civilian councilors. "Taro-san would like to bring into light what we must discuss?"

Taro then stood up then looked upon his fellow councilors. "My fellow councilors, it has come to my attention that the village is suffering a certain pest problem." Muttering could be heard from the Civilian Council while the Shinobi just continued to listen. "For the past 5 years, a dragon has been disrupting our way of life. So I say we cannot stand by and let this menace plague our lives. We must slay the beast!"

The council room went into a major uproar. One side was the civilians who were demanding the head of the dragon. The other was the shinobi who were thinking that this action was complete nonsense. Shakkuri and Mjölnir looked at each other and then sighed. The entire shinobi populace knew that the civilians always had a one tract mind when it came to complicated situations. Including the Kyūbi no Yoko incident ten years ago.

Before finishing their thoughts, the sound of a hand slamming on a table drew everyone's attention. They all looked towards Hiruzen who looked like he about to blow a gasket. The civilians stayed quite as well as the shinobi then the Sandaime coughed a bit then restarted the discussion.

"Now that everyone's calmed down." He said before turning to Shakkuri. "Shakkuri-san, can you now elaborate the council with the information you've gathered from the attack?"

Shakkuri got up where he was holding a file which held information on the days the Night Fury attacked. He made copies to each member where he handed the files to each member. He then went back to his clan seat then started discussing his findings.

"As you know," He said. "The Night Fury has been attacking the village for the past 5 years now. The answer of why was unknown back then…until now. Its attacks have a connection to certain events that happen in the village. At first I couldn't make heads or tails of it. Until what happened a week ago…"

"And what pray tell," a random civilian councilor interrupted. "Happened a week ago?"

"You and the rest of the Civilian Council should know!" he shouted at him. The council was taken back from Shakkuri's sudden outburst. Then he calmed down a bit and continued. "Last week on Sept. 12th, a certain individual was sent to the hospital from receiving nearly-fatal wounds from constant beatings and punctures on his body. Now who does that remind you of?"

"No one I heard of," the councilor scoffed. "What's the point?"

"The point," Shakkuri said. "Is who the individual is, Inoichi could you read the name of the individual in the file?"

Inoichi opened the file and looked over that particular day. As he kept reading his eyes kept getting wider and wider. The council members noticed his expression and they too were curious. He placed the folder down and then looked towards to the council.

"The individual's name is…Naruto!"

That one name caused a major uproar from the civilian's side. Some demanding the "demon child's" head while the others said that they knew he was the cause of their misfortune. This major uproar was causing the shinobi side to groan. Tsume held her ears along with Kuromaru who complained about loud-mouthed civilians.

"SILENCE!" shouted the Hokage. This caused the council room to be silent as they looked at the Sandaime, who had a hardened look. As he looked around seeing that everyone he then turned to Shakkuri. "How can you be sure that Naruto is the cause?"

"I looked over each file and found a connection." He explained. "Each time Naruto was attacked, the Night Fury attacked two hours or a day after the recorded attack. My guess is that the Night Fury reacts to this every time he's in danger. Every dragon in Konoha is known to react to their protective instinct so my theory is that the Night Fury was passing over Konoha when he first witnessed Naruto being beaten. Thanks to that its protective instinct kicked in. Just seeing a child being prosecuted in an unjustified manner would make anyone do what that Night Fury's doing."

"That's it?" a random civilian councilor scoffed. "Well I can see what we should do about the problem. I say we kill the demon chi-" Before the councilor could finish the civilian was hit by a bolt of lightning which he was shocked causing him to sputter and twitch uncontrollably. He falls to the floor as the council was shocked at what they witnessed then turned to the direction where the bolt came from.

They saw Mjölnir growling and sparking with electricity. He wasn't the only one with an angry look Shakkuri was giving a hardened glare at the entire Civilian Council. They shivered from both the man's and dragon's look. The Shinobi Council were smirking at this. They knew the Civilians thought themselves as powerful as the Shinobi Council but that was only because they were to power hungry and arrogant for rational thought.

"Nobody," said Shakkuri. "Nobody will speak about the very child who's been keeping you all safe from the Kyūbi's wrath all these years. Don't ever talk about him like that! You have no-"

"Shakkuri-san," the Hokage interrupted. "That's quite enough. The best course of action is to have more guards to make sure that the child isn't harmed by the civilians."

The civilians were in an uproar to that order. They stopped when the Sandaime gave out a massive amount of killing intent. The civilians kept their mouths shut as well as shiver from the Hokage's killing intent. The Hokage looked around seeing that everything calmed down he then calmed down as well.

"As I said, "More guards to make sure the child isn't harmed". Now that everything's in order, this meeting is now dismissed."

With that the councilors dispersed. Shakkuri and Mjölnir were walking out as well but then they were stopped by the Sandaime. He looked at both of them then gestured them to his office. Both looked at each other then followed the aged Hokage to his office.

* * *

><p>During that morning, Naruto was walking through the forest with a hand drawn map in hand. He marked out each area he searched and the frustration was getting to him. He had no luck locating the Night Fury. This caused him to scribble on his map then folding and place it in his pocket.<p>

"The Gods above hate me. Everyone in the village does," he said to himself. "Some people either loose a kunai or a scroll." He then smacks away a random branch out of his way. "No, not me… I managed to lose an entire dragon!" To make matters more unbearable, the branch from before, smacked him right across his face.

He groaned while holding the spot the branch hit him. He was about to get more angry until he saw something he didn't before. The tree he was smacked by was broken in half. He looked to see under the tree that something large plowed through over the next hill. He went up the path following the trail. Hopefully the body of the Night Fury was there waiting.

As he crawled up the hill, he immediately disappeared behind it. He peered back over it to see a black motionless figure lying on the ground, tangled in the ropes of the bolo cannon. The creature was a dragon but not like any seen in the village.

Its wingspan was around fourteen to sixteen feet, with the dragon itself being large and sleek, adding its tail length as well. The scales on its body were completely colored black; body design similar to a newt, possibly a dog because of the way its legs were. The blonde also noticed a smaller set of wings behind the main ones. On the end of its tail there were wing-like tips or one wing-like tip. Naruto then noticed its short neck and, unlike the other dragons, has no nose horn. Instead on its head, it had multiple flaps like that of a dog's ears it also had them on the side of its head. There were also scale fringes running from the top of its head to the base of its tail. For a moment, Naruto thought he noticed that one of its eyes open, to reveal a cat-like green.

Naruto slowly walked down the hill before quickly hiding behind the boulder. Naruto then pulled out a kunai from his equipment pouch. He then peered over it to see the dragon hasn't moved still. He slowly walked out and closer to the Night Fury. He poked it a bit with his foot to see if it would move. Seeing that it didn't, he chuckled then smiled at his accomplishment.

"Yes!" he exclaimed. "I did it! Now I have proof to show. This fixes everything!" He then places his foot on the belly of the dragon, his chest puffed out with pride as he spoke out in a deep mighty voice, "I, Naruto Uzumaki, have brought down this mighty beast!"

His was short lived, for he realized too soon, the Night Fury stirred underneath him, and began breathing heavily.

Naruto stumbled a bit being caught off guard. He slowly walked over to the dragon looking over to its head. The dragon's eye was open, which was indeed cat-like green, staring right into his cerulean blue ones. What surprised him was that dragon didn't make a move or struggle to escape. He moved a bit closer but then smiled.

"Well," he said. "Since I found you might as well drag you back to village." He grabbed one of the ropes and started pulling. As he was pulling, he noticed he wasn't going anywhere. He looked around seeing he was still in the same place. He groaned not before pulling on the ropes only causing his feet kick up dirt.

After ten minutes of pulling, Naruto panted and looked back seeing if the dragon even budged. No success. Naruto sighed in frustration as he landed on his hindquarters and lay against the dragon's stomach. The Night Fury made some minor movement and gave out rumbling noises. Naruto looked back the dragon and thought about what to do about it. He couldn't pull it back to the village, it was too heavy. He couldn't think of anything else to bring back the proof. Except one thing came to mind, he had to do the very thing his village hasn't done in over ten years.

He would have to kill the dragon.

He stood up in front of the Night Fury, who still staring at him, now with his kunai above his head. He looked down with a saddened look. He knew he shouldn't do this but he needed the proof.

"I-I'm sorry," he said. "But I need to have proof." He raised the kunai high in the air ready to stab the dragon. He clenched his eyes but he opened one to look down. He saw the dragon close its eyes, laying his head down, accepting its fate. He shook his head and was ready to stab but he looked back down and saw something familiar about this.

In the Night Fury's place, he saw himself. He saw himself like he was being hunted down by the civilians in the village. Tears started to fall from his eyes until he went for the stab.

**THWAK!**

The kunai was stuck in the trunk of a nearby tree. Naruto was panting from the emotional exhaustion. He was on his hands and knees from the entire experience. He looked at the dragon behind him. He knew that he wouldn't stoop to a low that was close to the civilian's standards.

"I did this," he said quietly his voice filled with regret.

The Night Fury, who was still waiting for its fate, shot open its eyes to the sound of a snap. It looked over and to its amazement was Naruto cutting the ropes. Why was this boy trying to release him when he claimed to about to kill him? The dragon couldn't place this child.

Naruto vigorously cut at the bolo ropes. The sooner the Night Fury was free the better. Naruto preceded to the last rope, not before the Night Fury sprung out. It pinned Naruto to the rock he hid behind before. Naruto tried to struggle a bit as the Night Fury pinned the boy by his neck with its claw against the rock.

For once in his life, Naruto was scared. The civilians were cupcakes compared to what he was facing right now. Unlike humans, who resort to tools or jutsu, a dragon could either rip you to shreds or incinerate you to cinders. Whatever this dragon planned hopefully it wasn't either.

The Night Fury stared at Naruto with its large, vibrant catlike green eyes, filled with anger. Naruto only stared back with eyes filled with fear. The dragon's breath felt on his face, hot and smelt that of brimstone. Its eyes staring into his, Naruto was almost hypnotized by its gaze.

The Night Fury rose up with its mouth opened, revealing rows of sharp white teeth. Naruto prepared for either the face ripping or the incineration. However, none of that happened at all. It loosened its grip, for the last second, and let loose a ferocious roar. It snorted in Naruto's face not before taking off farther into the forest. It attempted to fly away, however, for some odd reason, it hit rock cliffs and trees, until if fell somewhere deep in the forest.

Naruto breathed heavily and wobbly stood up. He looked into the direction where the dragon ran off to. He sighed not looking back before gathering his things. As he walked away, he didn't notice a figure watching the scene before him. The figure scratched the underside of his chin as he watched the young boy head back.

"Hmmm," he thought. "Things around here have grown more…interesting."

* * *

><p>Afternoon came at the Tara Compound, Asuto was out front watering the flowers near the window stand. She hummed as Stormfly was sunbathing while keeping an eye on her master. Then its head raised up and chattered as it look to the sky. Asuto looked and smiled to see her husband flying in on Mjölnir.<p>

The Skrill landed as Asuto was walking up to them. Shakkuri smiled as he dismounted his dragon as he was greeted by his wife. He and she then went inside their home towards the living room. There they sat down together as Mjölnir laid next to the fireplace.

"So," Asuto asked. "How did it go?"

"Well," he said. "The meeting could have gone better. If only the civilians weren't so noisy." Asuto laughed at that as he continued. "But I had a last minute meeting with the Hokage."

"What did he want?" she asked. Shakkuri sighed as he began to the tale. "Well it was mainly about Naruto."

**Flashback**

At the Hokage's office, Hiruzen Sarutobi sat within his chair as Shakkuri stood before him. Mjölnir was near the corner chewing on a large charred piece of wood. Shakkuri had many questions going through his head. One of them was why the Hokage brought him to his office. Another was probably he wanted to talk to him about the Night Fury.

"Shakkuri-san," the Hokage said snapping Shakkuri out of his thoughts. "There is something we need to discuss."

"What is it, Hokage-sama?" Shakkuri asked. "Does it regard the Night Fury?"

"No, no," the Hokage said. "It regards something or should I say someone different." Shakkuri raised a brow to this.

"What do you mean by "someone", Hokage-sama?" The Hokage sighed as he turned his chair to view the village.

"I'm referring to Naruto." Shakkuri's eyes widened a bit but continued to listen. "As you know around a year ago, Naruto was thrown out of the orphanage left out in the streets to fend for himself. Since then, the villagers have been prosecuting him almost every day. It's even hard to find the boy a family that would truly care for him."

Shakkuri started to frown from hearing this. He knew no one wanted to adopt Naruto. The civilians didn't want anything to do with him because of the Kyūbi no Yoko. The shinobi didn't want to get involved because it could cause civil war within clans or power struggles. Since Naruto was so important to the village, the Civilian Council shouldn't have jurisdiction over him. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. Since Naruto wasn't enlisted amongst the shinobi's ranks or from a major clan, the Civilian Council had the power over him.

If only he could help Naruto. Heck he would adopt the boy just to… From that one idea, it started to grow to the size of the forests around their village. Shakkuri smiled at the well thought plan, it could work as long as the Civilian Council wasn't in the way. He then turned to the Hokage, who noticed the look on his face.

"Hokage-sama," Shakkuri said. "I think I might have an idea that might help Naruto." Hiruzen raised his brow at this but continued listening. "You said no one else would adopt him right?"

"Yes," The Sandaime said with a confused tone. "What are you trying to say, Shakkuri-san?"

"What I'm saying is this," he said. "What if me and Asuto adopt Naruto?" This answer made the Hokage wide-eyed as Shakkuri continued. "I know what you're thinking, but I got it planned. We adopt Naruto, the Civilian Council won't be able to touch him. Plus we'll be able to give him the love and family he always wanted. I know it sounds too complicated-"

"I'll allow it." The Sandaime answered.

"I know you're probably against it but…" Shakkuri paused at what he heard. "What did you say?"

"I said," Hiruzen said. "I'll allow it. Your heart's in the right place, Shakkuri-san. I've seen the way Naruto is whenever he's with you and your family. His smile is always true whenever he's with you. Plus it'll benefit Naruto whenever he needs help with shinobi or dragon training, am I right?"

Shakkuri chuckled sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head. Then he realized one thing, adoption was a civilian matter. If the Civilian Council knew of this then they would immediately put a stop to this. He knew they hated Naruto with every fiber of their being. They'd do anything to make his life miserable.

"Um," Shakkuri said. "Hokage-sama, what about-"

"The Civilian Council?" the Sandaime answered. He then put a finger under his chin as he pondered till he had an answer. "Well how about we make this an S-Rank secret then? What do you think?" Shakkuri blinked but then smiled and bowed to him.

"That is probably the best course of action, Hokage-sama!" He answered. "So, when will the paperwork be done? The Hokage smiled at this.

"It'll be done during the evening," he answered. "I'll make sure that one of my trusted ANBU files the adoption form."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama." he said with a smile.

"And thank you, Shakkuri-san." The Sandaime answered back. "For giving the thing Naruto truly deserves; a family."

**Flashback End**

Asuto's mouth was agape from the entire tale. She couldn't believe that the Hokage would allow this. She didn't care though, considering it would be able to keep Naruto safe from the clutches of the Civilian Council. She could feel tears down her cheek from the happiness knowing that a child she cared about was about to be given any child should deserve; a loving family.

"Are you alright, Asuto-chan?" Shakkuri asked. Asuto wiped away the tears and smiled to her husband.

"I'm fine, dear" she answered. "Are you sure you want to do this? After all we do have a child on the way." She rubbed her pregnant belly, she could feel their child kick a bit. Shakkuri smiled as he took his wife's hand.

"I've never been more sure in my life," he answered. "Besides, this will give our newborn an older brother." He and Asuto laughed warmly at this. Shakkuri then looked around and noticed something off. "Hey, where's Naruto?"

"He's up in the guest room," she answered as she stood up. Shakkuri helped her up and she thanked him. "Shall we go get him?" Her husband then nodded when they proceeded upstairs to discuss the adoption with the blonde boy.

* * *

><p>Just before Shakkuri got home, Naruto climbed back into the guest room through the window. He closed it quietly before walking over to the guest bed. He laid on it looking up at the ceiling thinking of the Night Fury he let go. He couldn't get its image out of his head. Sitting up, he walked over to the desk within the room that had sketching tools.<p>

He began sketching which at first looked like scribbling but it was not. Thanks to Shakkuri's minor teachings along with Kuzuri's guidance, he could make pretty decent sketches. After a few minutes, a couple of drawings were complete. A few of them were biology sketches of the Night Fury, each very accurate and much detail to it. The others were minor sketches, with the same accuracy and detail, showing the Night Fury in different poses, some calm while others looked battle ready.

Naruto then pulled out one of the sketches and stared at it in both fascination and depression. He knew it'd be slim chance to ever see the dragon again. But something in his gut told him he might. Though he knew it easier said than done. One way is for certain, he wouldn't forget that face. He set the sketch down and lay back onto the bed. He looked towards the ceiling thinking about the dragon.

"I hope to see you again." He said to himself. He was about to take a nap when he heard the door knock.

He sat up when he saw Asuto and Shakkuri walk in. He gave a small smile and they smiled back. Naruto got off the bed and stood up then walked over to the couple.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Naruto," Shakkuri said. "There's something we want to talk about with you.

* * *

><p>Well there you have it! Stay tuned for the next chapter :3<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Next Chapter: New Family and First Day at the Academy<strong>


	3. New Family and First Day at the Academy

Hey everyone! Aaron2014 here! Sorry for the wait but with me having a job with long hours really gets to me. Also thank you all for liking this story! This is in fact my first successful story so thank you all! TT3TT Anyways enjoy.

**Chapter 3: New Family and First Day at the Academy**

In the living room, Naruto sat down on the couch between Shakkuri and Asuto. He didn't know what they wanted to talk to him about. Whatever it was hopefully it wasn't about the Night Fury. Considering Naruto just made couple sketches of the dragon up in the guestroom. Hopefully the couple doesn't spot them on the desk.

Naruto was torn from his thoughts as the couple tried to gain his attention. Naruto sat up and listened to the couple.

"Naruto," Shakkuri started. "After the time you've spent with us. We've decided to talk over a decision we wanted to make. This decision mostly involves you."

"Me?" he asked. "Why does this involve me?"

"The reason it involves you," Asuto answered. "Is because we decided that we wanted to adopt you."

Naruto's eyes widened when he heard that very word. No one ever wanted to adopt him, not since the orphanage. He remembered how most couples didn't bother notice him whenever they went for the other children. Knowing that Shakkuri and Asuto wanted to adopt him was causing him start shedding tears. From those tears he started crying, he hugged Asuto who reacted by hugging back.

Asuto, as she was hugging the crying child, started to soothe him and assure him everything's alright. She then looked to her husband, who was smiling at the scene, she smiled back as she comforted the child. After he calmed down, he felt something touching his palm. He looked to see Mjölnir comforting the boy. The dragon was then caught off guard when the child hugged him. The Skrill smiled as he gave out a comforting growl as he gave back the affection.

The couple smiled at the scene before them. They knew that was a wonderful idea from the beginning. Naruto was happy and they couldn't ask for more. Shakkuri then looked to the clock and noticed it was getting late. He tapped Asuto's shoulder and pointed to the clock. She nodded before looking down at Naruto, who was being assaulted by the licks of a Skrill.

"Alright, young man." She said. "It's getting late so time for bed." Naruto pouted a bit.

"Aww," he complained. "Can't I stay up longer?" Shakkuri smirked at the boy's question and came up with something devious.

"You could," he said. "But do you want to see me or your mother kissing and telling that we love each other?" Shakkuri got the answer right away as Naruto quickly got up and sprinted upstairs.

The couple laughed at the boys antics and followed after. They entered Naruto's room and saw he was trying to change into sleepwear. Asuto smiled as she helped her adopted son out of his clothing into his pajamas. He then got into bed as she tucked him in. Naruto yawned as the couple said their goodnights.

"Good night, Naruto." Shakkuri said. He then gave an affectionate head rub while Asuto kissed his forehead.

"Sweet dreams, dear." Asuto said with a smile. Naruto yawned again before slowly closing his eyes.

"Goodnight," he said. "Okā-san…Otō-san." The couple smiled warmly when they heard that. They then went to the door before turning off the light.

The door closed and Naruto sighed happily at his predicament. He had something he wanted his entire lifetime. He finally had a family. A family that cherished and cared for him. Not only that but he could have a possible sibling in the future.

Sleep took him quicker than usual. Unlike most times at his apartment, he now slept with ease knowing he was safe. As he slept, his thoughts went back to the Night Fury in the forest. He planned to look for it again when he had the time. Right now though, he wanted to dream.

Morning came and the sun was rising into the sky. The birds were chirping happily of the new dawn upon them. The sunlight then hit the window of a certain blonde who was still asleep. The sunlight crept up onto his face and the reaction was a groan as tried to continue to sleep.

His door opened to reveal Shakkuri who looked in to see his son still asleep. He shook his head with a warm smile and walked over to the boy's bed. He shook him a bit but only getting a groan.

"Wake up, sleepy head." Shakkuri said. "Rise and shine! You don't want to be late for the academy do you?"

Naruto groaned again as his eyes opened to see his father. He yawned as he sat up and stretched his arms. He smiled at his father, who smiled back, and then got out of bed. He and Shakkuri then walked downstairs to the kitchen where Asuto was making breakfast for them.

This time though, instead of ramen she was making a classic breakfast; scrambled eggs, bacon and buttered toast. The boys sat down as Asuto was finishing up the breakfast. Once done, she set the amount of food items to each individual. Both thanked her before clapping their hands together and thanking Asuto and a higher power for the food. Then the family proceeded with their breakfast.

The breakfast was eaten and the family had satisfied looks on their faces. Asuto then looked over to the clock and gasped a bit. It was almost time for the Ninja Academy to start.

"Look at the time," she said. She then got up grabbing two bento boxes and brought them over to the boys. "You two better get going if you're going to make it." Shakkuri then smiled and kissed his wife goodbye as he and Naruto walked out the door.

Shakkuri then gave a shrilling whistle, which Mjölnir responded by scampering over to the two. He and Naruto mounted the Skrill and with a command they took to the sky. They then headed towards the direction of the Academy. As they were flying, Mjölnir did a few loops and barrel rolls, which made Naruto whoop and laugh. After their moment of fun, they then continued their trek to the academy.

The Academy is a huge building located directly at the base of the Hokage Mountain. Here children train for over three years to become shinobi of the village. The morning was same as usual, students flocking to the entrance to get to class. Some students were brought by their parents, which some were flying in on dragons.

A few moments later, Mjölnir landed a few feet away from the Academy. Naruto dismounted the dragon before looking at his father, who rubbed his head affectionately.

"Have a great day, Naruto!" he said. "I'll see you at the Dragon Training courses, okay?" Naruto nodded as Shakkuri continued. "Also stay out of trouble."

"I will, Otō-san." He said before running off to the Academy. Shakkuri smiled as he watched him run off. He then patted Mjölnir, who then took off into the air towards the direction of the Dragon Training area of the Academy.

Inside, Naruto walked into a large room where most of his fellow classmates were already taking their seats. He then walked down to his usual spot next to Sasuke Uchiha, but unfortunately it was taken by one of his fan girls. He looked around and saw one near the entrance of the class.

* * *

><p>A few minutes earlier, Hinata Hyūga was enjoying her morning like always. She watched as the Sasuke usual fan girls fawned over him like always. He was okay but there was one guy she knew that the Uchiha couldn't compare. As she was thinking of a certain-blonde, her thoughts were interrupted as she heard the door open.<p>

She looked and the blushed at the sight before her. It was Naruto, the boy that captured her heart. She watched as he went down the steps to his usual spot. Inside she wished that for once he'd sit by her. As if the gods in heaven were listening, he then turned around and was heading over to where she was sitting.

As she was cheering on the inside, her face was starting turning red with a blush and her heart was starting to beat faster as he got closer. He finally made it to the top and walked over to where Hinata was sitting, who was blushing deep red and did a fiddling gesture with her index fingers.

"Hi," he greeted. "This seat isn't taken, is it?" He then pointed to the seat at Hinata's left side.

Her heart was beating as fast it could now, she felt like it would burst out her chest any second. He wanted to sit next to her. This was a dream come true for the Hyūga heiress. She then pushed away her shyness to answer the blonde.

"S-Sure," she stuttered a bit. "I-I don't m-m-mind if you s-s-sit here." Naruto smiled then took his seat next to the shy Hyūga. She smiled while she blushed as her crush sat next to her.

"My name's Naruto Uzumaki," he introduced. "What's your name?"

"H-Hinata Hyūga," she answered with a stutter and blush. Naruto then gave out his signature fox grin.

"Nice to meet ya, Hinata-chan!" he said. Hinata blushed even more when she heard him call her "Hinata-chan".

Naruto then looked at the Hyūga for a bit. She had short dark blue hair, pale skin and lavender pupil less eyes. He didn't notice before, but Hinata did actually quite cute for a girl their age. Both were actually staring each other for a bit before tensing and looking away with blushes.

Then the door at the lower part of the classroom opened up to show their teacher, Iruka Umino. He was a man of average height and build. He had brown hair tied into a ponytail, dark eyes and a scar that runs across the bridge of his nose. He looked around the class and looked around. The students continued to converse, ignoring their sensei.

"Good morning, class." he greeted with a smile. He then saw that they were ignoring him still which caused a tick mark to appear on his head. "HEY, YOU BRATS! PAY ATTENTION!" he shouted using his signature jutsu, the Ōkina Atama no Jutsu (Big Head Technique). The students then stopped talking and paid attention.

"Thank you," he said. "Anyways, good morning, class. I'm Iruka Umino and I'll be teaching you along with other teachers here at the Academy. Most what we'll cover is History, Physical Education, Ninjutsu Basics and, for those who want, Genjutsu Basics."

The students mutter amongst themselves about the classes they'll be taking the next three years. Iruka then coughed a bit to gain the students attention again, which worked this time. He then pulled out a folder as he read the other classes students could sign up for.

"Alright," he began. "There are also other curriculums you all can choose from. For the girls, there are Culture and Flower Arranging classes for the kunoichi curriculum. For both boys and girls, there is a Dragon Training class you can sign up for to train to become Dragon Rider ninja. So I need each of you to sign the paper here right now so that way, after the main classes, we can arrange you all."

The students then formed a line down to the teacher's desk. It took a while but then it got to Naruto's turn. He signed up for the regular classes (History, Physical Education & Ninjutsu Basics) as well as the Dragon Training class. He then went back up and sat back next to Hinata, who smiled at him with a blush.

"Okay," Iruka said. "Now I'll bring in an assistant teacher to help with the arrangements." He then walked to the door and gestured someone in.

The person who walked in was a man around Iruka's height and build. He had shoulder-length, white hair with a slight hint of blue to it and had green eyes. He walked in with a smile to the students, where some smiled back.

"Everyone," Iruka said. "I'd like to meet your other instructor, Mizuki."

"Hello, class." he said with a smile.

"Hello, Mizuki-sensei." The student responded back.

"Mizuki, will you help me with the arrangements?" Iruka asked his fellow instructor. Mizuki nodded then started to write down the classes and the students attending the classes.

On the board, Naruto saw that everyone was taking History, Physical Education and Ninjutsu Basics. A few students were taking the Genjutsu course, one of them by the name of Yakumo Kurama. Most of the girls were taking Culture and Flower Arranging, which was no surprise. He then looked over the extra-curricular course he was taking and to his surprise he saw that Hinata was going to take that class as well.

The blonde boy looked over to the indigo-haired Hyūga with a smile, who in which blushed while poking her index fingers together but responded back with a smile. He was glad she was going to take the course. At least he'll have someone he knew there to enjoy the class with.

"Wow, Hinata-chan" he said. "You and I are going to be taking the Dragon Training class together. That's awesome!" The girl blushed at his comment, poking her index fingers a bit more.

"W-Well," she said. "I-It'd be more fun in a c-c-class together with y-you, Naruto-kun." She blushed more at what she said. She then looked to see her crush's mouth agape before turning to a fox grin.

"It'd be more fun with you as well, Hinata-chan!" He responded back.

From that one response, Hinata's face lit up like a red Christmas light. Her heart starting beating faster and faster to where it felt like it was thumping against her ribcage. Her luck began to drop as Naruto noticed her sudden reaction. He then leaned in closer to Hinata's face, which caused her to blush more.

"Hey Hinata-chan you okay?" he asked. "Your face is red."

"W-W-Well…I…um," the Hyūga heiress stuttered. Naruto then put his palm on her forehead which got her to have blurry vision.

"You seem a bit warm." He said. "But it doesn't feel like a fever…" Before he could finish his deduction, Hinata's eyes turned into swirls and, if one could, comical steam started appearing over her head. There right in front of Naruto, Hinata had fainted. From this the boy freaked out.

"EH!" He shouted a bit. "HINATA-CHAN, YOU OKAY!?" He shook her a bit trying to let her regain consciousness. "HINATA-CHAN, WAKE UP! DON'T GO TO THE LIGHT!"

'Naruto-kun…' she thought before consciousness fully slipped away.

"Naruto, why are you disrupting the class?" Iruka asked with a tick mark on his head.

"Iruka-sensei, I don't know what happened." The boy explained. "Me and Hinata-chan were chatting but then her face got red and she passed out. I think she needs to see the nurse!"

Iruka sighed before walking up to the seat Naruto was occupying. He looked over to Hinata and laughed on the inside. He knew Hinata fainted because of her crush on Naruto. Too bad for her though that the blonde was oblivious to the girl's feelings. He looked to Naruto, who had a worried expression on his face.

"Don't worry," he said. "She just fainted. She'll wake up in a few minutes."

"Are you sure, sensei?" Naruto asked still unsure. Iruka then nodded to the blonde.

"I'm sure, Naruto" He said. "Now keep an eye on her till she wakes up, okay?" Naruto then answered with a nod as Iruka went back down the steps.

The class continued while Naruto kept an eye on Hinata. Even though she fainted, Naruto couldn't help and stare. Sure he had a minor on crush on Sakura, but with Hinata it was different. Whenever he talked to the pinkette, she'd either given him a bump on the head or beat him to a pulp. With Hinata though, she never made such actions. This was causing certain doubts to race around in his head.

Hinata woke from her faint spell a few minutes later. She blinked then held her head trying to get rid of the blur in her vision. She remembered the cause of her fainting. Hinata then look over to her left to see Naruto next to her, paying attention to the class to some extent. Her expression went to a frown as she thought it was a dream then paid attention as well. Naruto then looked over to see Hinata awake.

"Oh, Hinata!" he said. "You're awake! I was getting worried that you might be sick or something." Hinata blushed a bit from what the blonde said.

'H-He was worried about me.' She thought. 'I'm glad he cares a bit…' "I-I'm okay now, Naruto-kun. Thank you for m-making sure I w-was alright."

"No problem, Hinata-chan!" he said with a fox grin and a thumbs up. Hinata blushed a bit before smiling back at Naruto.

* * *

><p>The classes flew by quick for the two as lunch came around. Naruto was walking outside where the children of the Academy go to enjoy their lunch period. He looked around then his eye caught Hinata sitting under a tree by herself. The boy then proceeded to the tree where the girl was sitting at.<p>

"Hey, Hinata-chan!" The blonde greeted. "Mind if I join you?" The Hyūga heiress blushed but nodded in agreement as Naruto sat down next to her with his bento.

"Hey can we join you as well?" A calm, laid back voice said. Naruto and Hinata then looked to their right to the origin of the voice.

They saw two boys standing there. One had black hair tied into a ponytail that looked like a pineapple. Judging by his posture, he was the one laid back. The other boy had a more robust physique as well as spikey brown hair. His cheeks had swirling symbols on them. In his hands he had a bag of potato chips which he was eating from with a happy expression.

"Sure," Naruto said with a grin. "The more the merrier!"

"Thanks," said the chubby boy as he chewed. They then sat down in front of the two to where they sat comfortable on the grass.

"Oh yeah," Naruto exclaimed. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki and this is Hinata Hyūga." He introduced as Hinata bowed her head a bit to the two. "What's yours?"

"Shikamaru Nara" the dark haired boy replied as he lay back on the grass. "And the one who's gorging on the chips is my best friend, Chōji Akimichi." The boy then waved as he continued eating the chips. Naruto grinned as Hinata shyly smiled.

Minutes passed and the number of children in the group increased more. Around three boys and a one girl joined them. One boy had messy brown hair, sharp black eyes with vertical slit-like pupils and pronounced canine teeth. He also had distinctive red fang markings on his cheeks. On top of his head was a small puppy with white fur, and resembles a Great Pyrenees. He had squinted eyes, a dark brown nose, as well as dark brown patches on his ears and a dark outline around his mouth. The fur on the top of the puppy's head resembled a mohawk. This was Kiba Inuzuka and Akamaru, both from the Inuzuka Clan of Konoha.

The next boy had what appeared to have a calm demeanor around him. He was fair-skinned and appeared to be the tallest of the children. He wore dark sunglasses and a sea-green jacket with a high, upturned collar. He also sports a jacket which was light grey in color that sported a hood. One thing that said about him was that this kid was mysterious in a way. This was Shino Aburame, the heir of the Aburame Clan of Konoha.

The next boy was fair-skinned with onyx-black eyes and black chin-length hair. His hair was spikey in the back which resembled a ducks rear end. This, surprisingly, was Sasuke Uchiha of the Uchiha Clan of Konoha. Naruto may have been a little adamant in letting him join the group but he knew Sasuke needed a break from being crowded from his fan club.

Last but finally, the girl had pale skin, long brown hair and light brown eyes. The clothing she wore was a pink kimono skirt held by a pink sash. She also wore baggy pants as well as red mesh armor underneath the kimono and legs. Her sandals, unlike the others, were orange. This was Yakumo Kurama, the heiress of the Kurama Clan of Konoha.

After the introductions, the children had minor discussions. Most of the questions were about themselves. Shino was asked about what his clan did. He responded by telling them that his clan revolved around using insects for shinobi combat. To do it though it would require them to become living hives for their insects. He demonstrated this when a few bugs appeared from under his clothing. This kind of creeped the others out a bit, but Naruto thought that was cool.

Shikamaru then explained that his clan used shadow manipulation techniques. Thanks to this, once their shadow connected with an opponent's they'd have complete control over their actions. When they asked to show them Shikamaru dismissed it saying it would too troublesome.

Kiba went next with his chest out with pride. He explained that his clan revolved around using canine partners for shinobi combat. They were also known to be good trackers thanks to their heightened senses revolving around smell.

Chōji's turn came and started explaining his clan's specialties while continuing to stuff his face with chips. His clan was known for using techniques that used their own calories. This is why the Akimichi needed to eat enough foods to build up the extra calories to back up the jutsu.

Yakumo then stepped up to her background. She explained that the Kurama Clan was known for their superior genjutsu skills. This skill was a form of hereditary trait called a Kekkei Genkai, which passed down generation to generation. Thanks to heightened genjutsu skills, it could match to the effects of the Mangekyō Sharingan, which surprised even Sasuke. Unfortunately, with great power come its drawbacks. The user itself sometimes has a hard time controlling the full extent of their abilities. This causes the subconscious to often regulate the power which then leads to the creation of a second personality. This personality sometimes overwhelms the user and turns him or her into a monster.

Though for poor Yakumo she might not be able to use her techniques. She explained that since birth she had a weak body, which prevented her from performing activities required to be a ninja. This got the others sad seeing that their friend couldn't become a shinobi. Suddenly, Naruto stood up where the others turned their attention to him. He then told the others that he'd hate to see a friend not accomplish their dream. So he decided to help Yakumo with her physical training which would help her build up physically. The others smiled, including Sasuke, at Naruto's determination to help others. They also agreed to help Yakumo with her physical training, which had Yakumo shed tears in happiness.

It was then Hinata's turn to take the stage, which made her a bit nervous. She then explained to the others about her clans abilities. The first thing was their Kekkei Genkai, the Byakugan. This dōjutsu allowed her and her clan to have 360 º field of vision. It also allowed the user to see ones Chakra Network. Within this network are over 361 tenketsu or chakra nodes. This allows them to use their clan signature taijutsu, the Jūken, to attack and block the tenketsu within the body, which causes internal damage to their target. The Byakugan also has the ability to see through object which acts like x-ray vision. Naruto was wowed by her family's abilities. He gave a warm comment which caused the Hyūga heiress to blush.

It was Sasuke's turn, though he was a bit hesitant to talk about his clans abilities but at the moment saw no harm in it. His family was known as one of the founding clans of Konoha. Their abilities revolved the elemental manipulation of the Katon (Fire Release). They also wielded the dōjutsu known as the Sharingan. He explained once an Uchiha fully awakens this ability they can see chakra flow, to see fast moving targets, copy and memorize ninjutsu, genjutsu and taijutsu with near-perfect accuracy and to cast genjutsu onto others.

"So Naruto," Kiba asked. "Tell us about yourself. What does your family do?"

"Well," he said while rubbing the back of his neck. "I don't really know what my real parents did since I'm an orphan, but I got adopted recently." Hinata smiled when she heard that her blonde-haired crush finally got a family. Then Shikamaru then brought up a question.

"So who adopted you?" he asked. Then the blonde gave a fox grin. "Oh, it's Shakkuri and Asuto Tara." From that answer most of the children's jaws looked like they were about to fall off their mouths. Shakkuri was famous considering that he not only brought the war between the ninja and dragons to an end but he was also the founder of the Dragon Training course for the Academy. They were brought out of their thoughts when Naruto continued.

"I know what you guys are thinking," he said. "How could a ninja famous as him adopt an unknown orphan? Well…he was always there for me. Even during the times when the villagers ganged up on me." The group frowned at what he said the villagers did. Hinata was trying to keep herself from shedding tears. She witnessed a few times what they did to him. He didn't deserve any of it.

"That won't stop me though," he said while immediately standing up, causing the others to tense a bit. "I'm going to strive to the top and work hard to get there. My dream is not only to become a Dragon Rider, but the best Hokage-in-the-making, dattebayo!"

While the others were wowed by the blondes dream, Hinata couldn't help but smile. When the boy never gave up made her heart flutter like butterflies in a field of flowers. She and the others were torn from their thoughts as the Academy bell rang for the end of lunch. This caused Naruto to tense a bit before quickly gathering his things.

"Guess we'll see you guys later," he said. "Me and Hinata have to get to Dragon Training." After gathering his things, he then took Hinata's hand and dragged to poor girl to the class. The others smiled while shaking their heads before heading off to their final class as well.

* * *

><p>The Dragon Training classroom is located outside of the Academy. It was built like a small domed-arena where the dome looked like a cage. At the top of the entrance, there was a symbol resembling a Skrill, which was the current representation of the Strike Class of dragons.<p>

Naruto and Hinata walked through to see a couple of students gathering in the middle of the arena, where they joined them. While the two conversed, the sound of wing flaps interrupted them and they looked towards the entrance. At the entrance, four different dragons fly in and land in front of the children.

Two of the dragons Naruto knew which were the Skrill and the Monstrous Nightmare, but the other two were new. One dragon was colored light puke brown, and had a short body, gigantic head, and a round tail. It had yellow eyes, two wing-like horns above its eyebrows, and a smaller horn on the tip of its nose. Its mouth had two large bottom teeth, making it appear like a bulldog. Under the chin and on top of its back and tail, it had purple small stubby spikes, which resembled closely to acne. Unlike any other dragon, its wings were relatively small, but could beat as fast as a hummingbird's wings in flight. The dragon was a Gronkle, a Boulder Class which was known to be a bit lazy but never underestimated in combat.

The next dragon was quite the sight to see. It was light green in color of its scales, with a light green underbelly, going from tail to jaw. Its limbs were small, but strong enough to go fast, and support its triangle-shaped frame, with the front of the triangle, and the top as the end. It had two heads which were bulbous, attached to thin but strong long necks. Two large sharp teeth stuck out from the sides of the mouth as the smaller ones stuck out from the bottom. It sported yellow cat eyes with black slits, a yellow horn on top of their noses the pointed back, and two straight black horns shooting out of the back. On the end, its tail split in two at the middle, and traveling down the tails and up to the heads were red-like spines that seem to resemble the teeth of a zipper. Its wings were folded onto its sides, with only one wing bone, leaving a bat wing shape design on the single membrane of its wing. This was the Hideous Zippleback, a Fear Class which, unlike other dragons, caused explosions. It was also known for to be the only dragon with two heads which made it trickier to tell which was which, before it was too late.

Dismounting the two dragons were three people Naruto has met before. The one getting off the Gronkle was huge, stout and strong looking man. He was taller than the other adults and big in the midsection, especially in the upper region. He wore a brown short sleeved shirt along with light brown pants. He also wore dark brown shinobi sandals, a large Chūnin vest which was fitted for his large girth as well as fur covered gloves. He had blonde hair with green eyes and sported a minor five o'clock shadow. This was Sakanāshi Tara, a member of the Tara Clan as well as a real fan of the RPG genre of board games.

The other two that dismounted the Zippleback were hard to tell apart. By the looks of it, they were brother and sister, which is in fact true. They both were fraternal brother and sister. Both sporting long blonde hair, brown eyes and had sort of a thuggish appearance to them, though the woman was quite cute. Both wore the same type of Viking-styled helmet, where the horns were elongated to look like an antelopes horns. The man wore a Chūnin vest, a grey shirt with a brown belt, with greyish blue pants, brown arm straps from wrist to elbow, and dark brown shinobi sandals. The woman had her hair braided, two long braids in front, as well as two smaller ones that stuck up like animal ears, and dark grey armbands that went to her palms and ended at her elbows, as well as armbands on her biceps. She also wore a Chūnin vest, a yellow sleeveless shirt skirt held onto by a black belt, dirty green pants and dark shinobi sandals. The woman's name was Arainatto, and her brother's name Kibishīnatto; both were wild, reckless, adrenaline junkies, but not very bright.

The class then focused their attention on Shakkuri as he walked up to them. He looked over each one, seeing familiar faces including fellow clansmen and as well as Naruto. Shakkuri smiled then proceeded with the class.

"Welcome, everyone" he said. "We are happy to give a warm welcome to you all to this year's Dragon Training course. We will go over every aspect of being a Dragon Riding Shinobi, from identifying certain dragon classes to training the dragon itself." He then gestures to his fellow teachers. "Each of us will be teaching you specific topics of the class. Sakanāshi will be teaching you Dragon Identification and Dragon Classes. Hanajiru will cover the Combat and Tactics. The twins, Kibishīnatto and Arainatto, will cover the Training Course, where you all will focus on your physical prowess and stamina. Finally, I'll be teaching you all the Bonding Course. Without further ado let's get-"

"Um, Shakkuri," Sakanāshi interrupted. "I think there was another person to look over the Combat and Tactics class."

Shakkuri looked around a bit and knew Sakanāshi was right before saying, "Hey, you're right. Where's-"

"HOLD IT!" A voice shouted out. Everyone turned to the entrance where Kuzuri came running in panting a bit. "Sorry 'bout that, Shakkuri," he said. "I had to finish this morning's orders at the forge. Plus, I had to wash Wishbone's armor. He loves it whenever I give 'is armor a nice polish. You can even see the starry look in his eyes when he admires it."

"It's alright," Shakkuri assured. "Besides you've haven't missed anything yet."

"Well good! I can't wait to help teach these little wee ones about training dragons." Shakkuri chuckled at that before turning. "Okay everyone. Without further ado, let's get this class started!"

* * *

><p>Well I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Stay tuned for the next one! :3<p>

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><p><strong>Next Chapter: First Day of Dragon Training<strong>


	4. First Day of Dragon Training

Here you go folks! Sorry for the long wait but with work and stuff. Writing hasn't been going as fast but I'm glad to have finished this chapter up! Enjoy :3

**Chapter 4: First Day of Dragon Training**

The first session of the course was taking place at the edge of the arena where tables and chairs were set up for the students. Naruto found a spot in the middle where Hinata sat beside him. As the students took their seats, Sakanāshi stood at the front where a chalkboard and a table for the teacher are located. Accompanying him was his Gronkle, who then laid down on the ground beside him taking a minor nap.

"Hello, everyone!" he greeted. "Welcome to Dragon Identification and Classes! I'm your teacher for the next few years, Sakanāshi Tara. Today we'll be going over dragon classes today. Can anyone tell me how many classes there are?" He got a response when a student in the back raised his hand. He pointed to the student before saying, "Yes, you!"

Naruto looked over to the kid and saw that he had light brown hair, brown eyes and a gap in his teeth. He was almost as tall as Shino, but not as close. He wore a purple shirt, dark brown pants with a brown belt and blue shinobi sandals. He also had cloth wrappings around his palms and wrists. This was Hatsumei Tara, a member of the Tara Clan as well as Sakanāshi's son.

"The answer," he said. "For the number of classes are seven. Which are known as the Stoker, Boulder, Fear, Sharp, Tidal, Strike and Mystery Classes."

"Very good, Hatsumei!" he congratulated. "Now can anyone name a species of dragon from the Strike Class?" He then noticed Naruto immediately raise his hand which he pointed to. "Yes, Naruto?"

"A Night Fury!" the boy exclaimed. This got a couple of laughs from other students, except for Hinata and the other three Hatsumei was with.

"Oh please!" a bully-looking kid said. "Night Fury ain't a Strike Class. It's part of the Mystery Class!" The other two bullies with him agreed very dumbly.

"Actually," Sakanāshi interrupted. "Naruto is correct!" This got the other students to shout, "Seriously!?" in unison. "Yes, even though it's a borderline between Strike and Mystery Class, a Night Fury mostly leans towards to the Strike Class. Considering its speed, tactics and intelligence, it indeed takes its place within that class. Good job, Naruto!"

Naruto smiled that he got the answer right. Hinata also smiled that her crush finally was in a class he could improve in. Behind them, the kid that made fun of Naruto sneered a bit. Though he had a plan for the later parts of the class, which he pulled out a green-colored stem which looked like it came from a root of sorts. This was part of a root called Dragon Root. Dragons were attracted to it like with Dragon Nip, but caused more aggression than calmness. The bully then placed it into Naruto's back pocket without anyone noticing.

* * *

><p>The first session of the class ended and the students proceeded to the next session which was located on another edge of the arena where a minor ring was set up. On a table, various weapons from katanas to staffs were seen. The students lined up as Hanajiru and Kuzuri were in front of them.<p>

"Alright, class!" Kuzuri started. "Welcome to the Combat and Tactics session of the class. Today is a real doozy. Each of you will take a practice weapon from the table over there and when we call two names, you'll both fight till the other loses. Now then everyone gather a weapon and let's get started!"

The students then flocked to the table grabbing various weapons. Naruto walked up to it and looked around a bit. He then saw a wooden katana which he picked up. He got a good feel to it, doing a few swings with it. Something on the inside told him that this weapon felt right with him. He smiled before walking over next to Hinata, who acquired a Bō staff, then sent his focus to the teachers.

"Okay," Hanajiru announced. "Would Raidō Tara and Hatsumei Tara come up?"

The two students entered the ring. On the left was Hatsumei, sporting a Bō staff like Hinata, and the right was brown haired boy with green eyes. He was wearing a red shirt, which was a bit tattered. He also wore dark brown pants with a brown belt and black shinobi sandals. On his wrists were brown wrist bands and his fingers were covered in cloth wrapping. His body build was more muscled than the other students but more to the athletic build. In his hands, he sported two Sais, which he occasionally twirled around. This was Raidō Tara, a member of the Tara Clan and son of Hanajiru Tara.

Both stared at each other with hardened glares. Both ready to bash each other's brains in. Hatsumei started spinning his Bō staff around him, with excellent skill. The students watched in awe as the boy kept twirling the staff around him before stopping, without a flinch. The other boy wasn't impressed and just popped his neck and shoulder joints.

"Alright, Hatsu" Raidō advised. "Put down the staff, and no one gets hurt."

Hatsumei had a deadpan expression on his face. "You said that last time, Rai. And then you hurt me."

Raidō then shrugged, "Yeah… but less then I would have."

"Yeah, right." Hatsumei said with a raised brow. Then Kuzuri signaled them to begin, which Hatsumei then charged in with his staff spinning and prepared to strike. But that didn't happen, as somehow, Raidō grabbed the staff, and pulled it from Hatsumei's grip. He then took the staff and broke it in half making it into two small batons, and twirled them in his hands. Hatsumei's eyes widened and shivered a bit.

"Should have dropped the staff?" he said with a gulp.

"Should have dropped the staff," Raidō nodded with a smirk, and proceeded to pummel Hatsumei on the head with the batons playfully, causing him to cry out to stop and surrendered.

The next match was called as two other boys were called up. One had light blonde hair and blue eyes. His face had freckles on his cheeks. He wore an orange shirt, light brown pants, a brown belt and blue shinobi sandals. On his wrists were brown wrist bands and his fingers were wrapped in cloth wrappings. In his hands, he wielded nunchaku, which he spun around with expert precision. This was Otoko Tara, a member of the Tara Clan and the son of Kibishīnatto.

The other boy had light brown hair and blue eyes. He wore a blue shirt, brown pants with a brown belt and blue shinobi sandals. On his wrists he wore arm guards and his fingers were wrapped in cloth wrappings. In his hands he wielded two katanas, which were poised and ready. This was Shuryō Tara, a member of the Tara Clan and the son of Arainatto.

Otoko then sped around Shuryō, swinging his nunchaku around, while taunting the blue-shirted boy. However, Shuryō seemed to just stand there, in a battle stance, not making a flinch, but dodged all the attacks the orange-wearing Tara was throwing at him.

"Oh, yeah! Otoko is on the move!" The nunchaku wielding Tara taunted, jumping around his fellow clan member, swinging his nunchaku at lightning speed. "You don't know what to do! I'm here! I'm there! I could be anywhere! How can you stop what you can't see?"

However, once Otoko made a pass to Shuryō's left, he got him in the gut with the pommel of his katana handle. This caused Otoko to fall to the ground on his knees, with the air knocked out of him. Shuryō then sheathed the swords while looking at the down boy, and replied, "Like that."

"Good one, Ryō," Otoko wheezed out.

Time went by as other students were called up and sparred with one another. Then, Hinata's name was called as well as one of the bullies by the name of Odei. He was around her and Naruto's height. His hair was brown and had black eyes. He sported a white shirt, brown pants and blue shinobi sandals. Gripped in his hands were tonfa, which he had battle ready.

Both positioned themselves in the ring, waiting for the signal. Odei was smirking, his face showed over confidence. Hinata, however, was fidgeting a bit. She was nervous, thinking she might lose in front of her crush. She then started to discard her stance thinking that she already lost. Naruto noticed this and called out to her.

"Go, Hinata-chan! Kick his ass to the curb!" Hinata was brought out of her thoughts when she heard that. She turned to Naruto, who was giving his signature fox grin with thumbs up. Hinata smiled, her nervousness melted away replaced with confidence. She then turned to Odei with her Bō staff at the ready with a smile.

'Thank you, Naruto-kun' she thought as the spar began.

Odei charged at the Hyūga with yell, swinging his tonfa at her. Hinata dodged each strike before swinging the staff at Odei, getting him in the nose. This caused the boy to cry out in pain, holding his nose. The boy then glared at Hinata, with hate in his eyes.

"You think you're so high and mighty," Odei spat as he lifted up his tonfa. "I'm going to wipe the floor with you, Hyūga." Hinata's expression didn't falter as her eyes shown more distinct pupils, and her veins near her temples bulge. This caused Odei to shutter a bit, considering now he was fighting against the Byakugan.

Hinata then charged at the bully, and then swung with exact precision. Odei tried to counter but had both tonfas knocked out of his grip. Hinata then attacked the tenketsu which would cause knockout in her opponent. She then gave one more thrust with her staff, causing Odei to fly out of the ring where he landed on his back. The students were in awe at what happened. The one in most awe was Naruto. Not only did Hinata win but the way she moved was like a person dancing. He then shook away his thoughts and cheered for her.

Hinata blushed as she heard her crush cheer for her. She then hurried back to the other students, next to Naruto. She then heard Naruto's name called as well as the name of the leader of the bullies, Damasu. The boy was taller than Naruto. He sported black hair and green eyes. He wore a black shirt, brown pants and brown shinobi sandals. In his hands, he wielded a long chain mace. Unlike regular maces, this mace had no spikes and mainly used for bludgeoning.

Damasu smirked as he twirled the mace around. Naruto gulped a bit before unsheathing the katana and got into a readied stance. The spar then began and Naruto charged with sword in hand. Damasu twirled the mace around and chucked it at Naruto. The whiskered blonde dodged the mace, but then got a kick to the gut causing him to get knocked back on the ground. Naruto groan before moving out the way of the incoming mace ball. Naruto then got to his feet and jumped into the air and delivered an air kick to the bully's cheek.

Naruto then land then turned back at Damasu to send in another kick but it was caught and he was thrown near the edge of the ring. Naruto looked up and time seemed to slow down as he saw the mace heading towards him. He knew that the mace would knock him out of the ring and he'd lose. He tried to think of ways to either counter the weapon or dodge it quickly enough. However his thoughts were interrupted by an unknown force.

"**You're in quite the predicament**," said a disembodied voice. "**You want to get out of this without being harmed? Then listen closely, child. Calm yourself and channel your chakra into the blade of your sword. I'll do the rest.**"

Naruto didn't know where the voice came from but right now he didn't care. He listened as he calmed down and channeled his chakra into the katana. Surprisingly, the katana blade glowed white and he then got into a sword stance before time started speed back up. He flashed his eyes open as the mace was in range and sliced downwards. From this the mace was sliced in two like a knife through hot butter. The split pieces of the mace landed on each side of Naruto which caused the viewers to go wide-eyed.

Damasu was shocked at what he saw. The failure known as Naruto Uzumaki was able to cut through his weapon. His thoughts were broken as Naruto then charged at him, sending a roundhouse kick to the bully's face. This caused him to be knocked back around 5 feet and landed outside the ring. Silence encompassed the group of onlookers. Until Kuzuri shook himself out of his stupor and walked over to Naruto, raising his hand in the air.

"Well," he said. "It goes without sayin'. Naruto Uzumaki is the winner!"

Some of the students cheered for Naruto, mainly Hinata. He smiled as the Tara members and Hinata walked over to him congratulating him. His mind then started to wander as a familiar voice echoed in his mind.

"**Not bad, kid.**" It said. "**With a little practice you could be a natural. Oh, and if you want to talk to me, just think it.**"

'Okay,' Naruto thought. 'Hey, thanks for the help. So who are you? Why can I only hear you?'

"**You're welcome. For who I am, you can say that I'm sort of your guardian angel. The only reason you can hear me is because we are connected through a force out of your control.**"

'Out of my control?' Naruto thought. 'What does that mean? Who are you really?'

"**You'll find out in due time. But right now my identity shall remain a secret. We shall talk again later, right now your friends are wondering why you haven't responded to them.**"

"Naruto-kun?" Hinata's voice was heard. This brought him out of his train of thought and looked at the Hyūga. She had a worried look on her face when he never responded. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he said with grin. He then looked around to see that the students were walking over what appeared to be an obstacle course. "So… did I miss anything when I zoned out?"

"Well," Hinata explained. "After your victory, everyone was called to the next class session. It was the Training Course, I believe."

Naruto smiled a bit then started heading over to the Training Course. The course itself was comprised of multiple obstacles determined to test ones strength, speed and will. The first part of the course had swinging logs, which was used to increase ones agility. The next part was the wall climb, where the students were trained to use their strength to overcome this obstacle. After that, there was a straight path but it was likely booby trapped. Once you enter that part, blunted, and padded, kunai shot out which helped one practice evasive tactics. The final part of the course was the 50 meter dash, which had hurdles and as well as a surprise during the end part.

Naruto and Hinata arrived with the other students. He looked to see the twin teachers, Kibishīnatto and Arainatto, who were arguing about something. But eventually, they put off the argument when Arainatto punched the back of Kibishīnatto's head, causing him to fall in pain in front of the students, who were chuckling a bit. The male twin then got up and dusted himself before giving out his announcement.

"Alright," he called out. "Welcome to the Training Course! Where pain and pleasure mix like a delicious drink during the holidays." The students looked at him a bit weird until Arainatto then continued, "Basically what my Otōto is trying to say, the point of this obstacle course is to test your might to either you'll pull through or you'll be in pain. To which, it'll be our pleasure watching."

"Exactly," Kibishīnatto exclaimed. "Now all of you guys head to the starting line."

The students did what they were told. Each of them lined up and positioned themselves ready. The signal was given and the children started running. Naruto came up to the swinging logs. He dodged each one and continued forward. Hinata, who followed after, dodged each one but almost got hit. Hatsumei dodged one by one but got slammed in the gut by one. This caused Otoko, who ran past, to turn around and chuckle a bit before he himself got hit by a log to the side.

After dodging and getting slammed by cylinders of wood, the children then came to the wall climb. Naruto, who looked back, saw Hinata coming right up to him. He allowed her to climb up the wall first, which she shyly smiled at his courtesy. He then climbed up after she got to a pretty good distance. He looked back seeing the other students climbing up as well, though a few having more trouble than others. Naruto made it to the top. There, Hinata was waiting for him and she held out a hand to help him up. Once pulled up, he smiled before gesturing to her to jump down the wall. She nodded as they both jumped down, with the other students following after, and proceeded to the kunai path.

As they stepped into the path, random kunai shot out at them. Naruto dodged but sometimes got nicked by a stray kunai. Hinata, who was using her Byakugan, dodged and swatted each one away. She then saw a stray kunai heading for her crush. She immediately rushed to him as he turned to see the incoming kunai. But before it could hit, she swatted it away with a palm strike, causing it to fling away into a certain bully. Naruto smiled and thanked Hinata for the assist and they and the other students proceeded to the finale of the course.

"Hey, Imōto," Kibishīnatto said to his sibling. "I think I have a brilliant idea for the final part of the obstacle course." She then looked at her twin as if he grew another head.

"You?" she asked. "An idea? Is it the end of the world or something?"

"No! It's a really good idea." He then gestured her to come closer. She rolled her eyes but leaned in. He started whispering the idea into her ear. As this progressed, her lips turned from a smile to a grin. This was probably the best plan her brother has ever came up with in a long time.

"Okay," she said. "I am so into this plan!"

"Shall we begin?" the male twin asked.

"Lets!" she agreed. Then she and her twin made a weird called which surprisingly sounded like a Zippleback. Barf n' Belch, the twins Zippleback, responded to this and waddled over to their riders. The twins then started doing hand gestures, which confused the students, and Barf n' Belch then responded by flying to the final part of the course and the right head started expelling a line of green gas to from the start of the final to the finish.

Naruto tensed at this and grabbed Hinata's wrist, which made her blush, and started high-tailing it to the finish. The other children realized what their teachers were planning as well and started to run to the finish faster as well. The sound of a spark going off reached their ears and they turned to see a flaming, explosive inferno speeding towards them. Naruto looked behind and started sweating bullets and Hinata was trying to not faint at the current situation.

Whenever the wisp of fire got close to any of the children, they'd jump off the course, causing them to become disqualified. Naruto and Hinata kept running as the raging inferno came closer. Naruto then suddenly pulled Hinata close and picked her up bridal style, which caused her face to redden like a tomato. As the finish line was in sight, he then made a desperate dive for it, facing the ground to his back where Hinata wouldn't become injured.

They passed over the finish line and landed on the ground. Naruto, while on his back, held Hinata close as the explosive inferno passed over them. The heat could be felt on their skin causing them to have shivers. The inferno passed and dissipated, which made Naruto sigh with relief. He then looked over at Hinata, who unfortunately had fainted again.

He propped himself up and glared at the twin teachers. Those two were either insane, stupid or both. Why would they allow that in this course? Someone could have gotten severely burned or worse. His thoughts were broken as he looked to see Shakkuri was walking over to the twins, with an expression that could stare down a Red Death.

"Guys," Shakkuri said. "What did I tell you about using Barf n' Belch's gas on the course? Do you realize you could have injured one of the students?"

"Don't look at me," Arainatto said then pointed to her brother. "It was his stupid idea."

"Hey!" he shouted. "My idea wasn't stupid. In fact, my idea made it to where I made a realistic life or death situation happen. At least your kid crossed the finish line with his girlfriend."

"First," Shakkuri started stating. "We are in no circumstance to use dragon fire for the obstacle course. Second, we will never, ever use dragon fire for any course unless were teaching about it. Finally, Hinata isn't my son's girlfriend." He then muttered to himself, "Not yet, anyway."

"Whatever," Kibishīnatto said. "So does this mean our session is over? Cause I want to go to one of the training grounds to blow stuff up."

Shakkuri sighed before saying, "Yes, your session is over." He then looks to the group of students. "If all of you would follow me, we can begin the final session."

A few minutes later, the students gathered at the middle of the arena. Shakkuri and Mjölnir were standing in front of the group ready to begin their session. Most of the students at the time were at awe of Mjölnir. Considering some Skrill are aggressive, Mjölnir cast aside that major notion. Mjölnir looked over at Shakkuri with a look that said, "It's time to begin." Shakkuri nodded before getting the students attention.

"Welcome to the Bonding Course," he said. "In this session, you'll learn the meaning of establishing a bond with a dragon. The bond is a pact between rider and dragon. It means that you trust each other with your lives. Today, I'll teach you how to establish a bond with a wild dragon. However, I must say this; you are under no circumstances to train a wild dragon by yourselves. Are we all clear on this?" He then was answered, "Yes, sensei," by all of the students. "Good! Now let's get started."

Shakkuri then gave out multiple calls which sounded like different types of dragons. The response was five different call backs as five different dragons flew in. They were the Deadly Nadder, Monstrous Nightmare, Gronkle and the Hideous Zippleback. There was also one dragon around the size of a small dog. It had small but powerful red wings, red spines going down from head to tail, and a small red horn on its nose, as well as two on its head. The dragon's body was colored light green with a red trim on some areas, and had big, yellow eyes. It licked its right eye, almost similar as to how a gecko would do, as it looked at the group of children. This was the Terrible Terror, the smallest of the dragons, but not the least in ferocity.

"Here," Shakkuri said. "Will be the dragons you'll be trying to establish a bond with." He then pulled out a small clipboard and held it in front of him. "I call out each of your names and you'll come up here and establish at bond with the dragon I pick. Before we get to that though, let me and Mjölnir demonstrate about establishing a bond."

The students watched as Shakkuri faced the Skrill, who was facing back at him. Naruto watched in awe as his father held out and open palmed hand only a few inches away from the dragon. What seemed like a minute or so passed as Mjölnir closed his eyes and placed his snout into Shakkuri's open palm. The students were at awe at the scene of the bond between the rider and his dragon. Shakkuri smiled as a memory of him and Mjölnir's first meeting came to mind. He shook off the memory before turning to the students.

"That is what you must do," he said. "The key to this is gaining the dragons trust and assuring them that you can be trusted. So let us begin with this lesson."

One by one, students were called up to establish their bonds with the dragons. Naruto's attention was turned to Damasu, who was having trouble getting the Terrible Terror off while its jaws were clamped on its nose. Naruto chuckled at this when he heard the next named called.

"Hinata Hyūga," Shakkuri called. "Come up and try to establish a bond with…" He trailed as he looked at the dragons, before his sights lay on the Nadder. "… The Deadly Nadder."

Hinata tensed before shyly walking over to the Sharp Class dragon. The dragon in question was looking at the Hyūga with keen interest as it chattered and chirped. Hinata then closed her eyes and held out her hand, which was shaking a bit in fear. She was use to the Terrible Terrors that lived in her mother's garden but never a Nadder. She was scared that the dragon might bite her or fling its spines at her.

"Alright," Shakkuri assured her. "Now listen carefully, Hinata. Nadders are well known for their vanity. Just complement her and focus on that to gain-"

He couldn't finish for the Nadder then pressed her snout against Hinata's hand. She tensed a bit and looked at the dragon, which opened its eyes which showed kindness within them. Hinata then slowly smiled and gave out a giggle as the Nadder snuggled her cheek lovingly.

Naruto watched in awe as Hinata interacted with the Nadder. Never in his life had he met someone like Hinata. She was kind, sweet and great with dragons considering how fast she bonded with the Nadder. He couldn't help but chuckle when he witnessed the other dragons being affectionate with her, which made her giggle as they started giving her affectionate licks. Naruto couldn't help but feel something warm in his chest whenever he watched her. He couldn't figure out why though.

Shakkuri was equally surprised when he watched Hinata. She was a natural dragon tamer. He shook his head before walking over to the dragons and giving a few hand gestures to them to give Hinata room. They backed off and the Nadder then rubbed against Hinata's cheek before heading back with the other dragons. Shakkuri then looked to Hinata with smile.

"Hinata," he said. "In all of my years I've never seen any dragon take a liking to anybody that quick. I admit that you're a natural tamer. Congrats!" Hinata blushed at this as she fiddled with her index fingers.

"T-Thank you, sensei," she shyly thanked her teacher. She then walked back over to Naruto, where she noticed him staring at her. She blushed a bit before stand right next to him while still fiddling with her fingers.

"Naruto," Shakkuri called. "You're up! The dragon you'll bond with will be… the Monstrous Nightmare."

Naruto flinched a bit when he heard that. Out of all of the Stoker Class of dragons, Monstrous Nightmares were the most ferocious. Sure he wasn't actually afraid of the dragon, it was the setting oneself on fire that concerned him. He sighed putting his minor fears aside and walked over to the dragon. Its size dwarfed Naruto considerably and snorted a bit. He then extended his hand out to the dragon but held firm. He closed his eyes and waited for the dragon. He then felt something warm on his hand and open his eyes to see the Nightmare's snout in his palm. He smiled a bit before petting the Nightmare's snout, who in term cooed at the touch.

"Hey, big guy," he said. "You're not scary as everyone thinks-"Before he could finish, the dragon tensed suddenly before taking a whiff of Naruto. Its eyes widened and its pupils slitted before rising up before Naruto with its wings extended and its body ignited. He let out a mighty roar which caused Naruto to fearfully fall back and move away.

"Naruto!" Shakkuri shouted to his son. Mjölnir wasted no time and bolted in front of the boy and covered its body in electricity and gave a mighty roar at the Nightmare. The Nightmare then spewed fire at the Skrill, who jumped back and then sent out a bolt of lightning back at it. The Nightmare was frightened by the bolt that struck the ground at its feet.

Naruto's heart was pounding in his chest. The Night Fury was one thing but the Monstrous Nightmare was entirely different. His thoughts were broken as he watched Mjölnir head butt the Nightmare into the wall. It groaned before passing out. Mjölnir snorted before turning to Naruto with a worried expression. The boy smiled before getting up to pet the dragon. Before his hand reached the snout, Mjölnir's expression matched that of the Nightmare's when it first interacted with him. With a snort, the Skrill roared and started sparking with electricity.

Naruto's hair started standing on end and he fell back again while the Skrill started stomping over to him. Naruto shook in fear until he saw Shakkuri jump in front of the Skrill holding a sword, where the blade was blazing with fire. Mjölnir roared before sparking up again and send a bolt of lightning at his rider. Shakkuri quickly countered with a large shield which popped out of his left armguard and blocked the lightning.

The Skrill the charged at the teacher with snapping jaws. Shakkuri dodged out of the way of the jaws then sent out a finger jab to the dragon's chin. The Skrill's eyes widened before falling to the ground unconscious. Shakkuri sighed before sheathing the sword and looking towards Naruto. He was still shaken from the event and both their attentions were brought over to a group of laughter from three certain bullies.

"Wow," Damasu said with a sarcastic tone. "You're quite the tamer. It was a good thing that was a domestic because if it was a wild one then it would have gone for the kill." The bullies then continued laughing at Naruto's misfortune. Naruto's eyes started to water before quickly getting up and running out of the class. Shakkuri tried to call out to him but he was already gone.

Then the dragon rider's eye caught something on the ground. He bent down and picked up the object. From the look of it, it appeared to be a piece of a stem from a root of sorts. The color of the stem was light green which was familiar. He realized what he had found and turned to the students.

"Class is dismissed," he informed with a distant hardened look. He then stopped the three bullies. "Not you three. I need to discuss some things with your parents."

Hinata didn't move from her spot. She was facing the direction where Naruto ran off to with a sad expression on her face. She felt horrible that happened to her crush. She was brought out of her thoughts when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turns to see Kuzuri trying to comfort her.

"What are you doing here, lass?" he asked. Hinata looked at her teacher confused for a bit.

"What do you mean?" she asked back.

"I mean," he answered. "What are you doing here instead going after the lad? We got things covered here. Go after him!

Hinata's face brightened a bit before nodding. She thanked her teacher before running out of the classroom in the direction Naruto left. Kuzuri smiled a bit before looking over to Shakkuri. He was scolding the three boys while holding a small, familiar looking green stem. He sighed before walking over to the clan head.

* * *

><p>In the forest, Naruto was walking. He rubbed his eyes trying to get rid of signs of him crying. Not too far behind but unseen, Hinata was following the spikey blonde while hiding behind the cover of trees. She knew that they weren't supposed to be outside the village, but she had to follow Naruto to see if he was okay.<p>

Naruto sighed before he got onto a familiar trail. He continued walking down in till he reached his destination, the area where he found the Night Fury. As he inspected the remains of the bolos, Hinata peaked out from behind a tree and watched. She was confused to why her crush was out here, as well as, the damage in the surrounding area. Something big must have come through here. She hid again as Naruto picked up the leftover bolo rope, deep in thought.

His thoughts brought him to what Damasu said about wild dragons. Sure trained dragons were dangerous but wild dragons were just as dangerous. 'If it was a wild one then it would have gone for the kill.' Those words echoed through his mind constantly.

"So why didn't you?" he asked himself as he continued to inspect the ropes that had once trapped the dragon.

Dropping the ropes, he then followed the path where the dragon flew off to last time. Behind him, Hinata quietly followed after. Naruto didn't have a hard time finding a trail considering the broken branches and paw prints. It seemed evident the Night Fury must have been hurt. Otherwise, the dragon wouldn't have crashed so many times. He followed the trail until it led him to where the tracks and broken branches ended at.

The end of the trail came into view, or what appeared to be the end. He stepped between two large rocks, and behind them laid a small canyon. It was surrounded by tall rock walls, much like the ones in the Dragon Training Class. It was full of lush, green plants, the sun was shining upon it, and there were birds fluttering about inside it. Even in the canyon, was a small lake in it, either used for swimming or drinking in. In some aspect, it was like a small private paradise for anyone who wanted to get away… or to hide in.

Naruto looked around for any signs, but sadly found none. He sighed in disappointment that he didn't find the dragon. "Well this was stupid," he muttered to himself.

Not too far behind, Hinata carefully moved through the rocks to get a glimpse at her crush. She didn't know why he was all the way out here, but one thing for certain she needed to find out. She then noticed him turning around and she quickly hid. Naruto looked back a bit before shrugging and looking into the canyon.

Just as he was about to leave, he looked down at his left and saw an interesting sight. There was a cluster of small black scales. He picked one up to get a better look at it. There was no mistaking anything about it; the scales he held in his hand were identical to the Night Fury's scales. As he knelt down, a large, black figure swept by right in front of him. He jumped back a bit, but regained his footing as he looked to see what it was. It was the Night Fury, and it looked like it was trying to climb out of the canyon, but the rocks were too smooth for its claws to grab on to.

The dragon glided down and across the small lake that was centered in the canyon. It landed by a tree that was on the opposite end of the canyon from Naruto. Quickly getting a look of determination, Naruto jumped down to a rock ledge so he could get a better look at the dragon, as it tried to once again fly out.

Hinata, coming out of her hiding spot, got closer and watched with eyes wide in shock. There right before her was a dragon she never seen before. Its wingspan was around fourteen to sixteen feet, with the dragon itself being large and sleek, adding its tail length as well. The scales on its body were completely colored black; body design similar to a newt, possibly a dog because of the way its legs were. The Hyūga heiress also noticed a smaller set of wings behind the main ones. On the end of its tail there were wing-like tips or one wing-like tip. She then noticed its short neck and, unlike the other dragons, has no nose horn. Instead on its head, it had multiple flaps like that of a dog's ears it also had them on the side of its head. There were also scale fringes running from the top of its head to the base of its tail.

One thought came to mind when she saw that dragon. This was a Night Fury, a dragon that was known to be the offspring of lightning and the Shinigami itself. She stayed quite as she watched as her crush continued to watch the dragon.

As the Night Fury attempted to escape the canyon, Naruto decided to not waste an opportunity like this. The blonde then pulled out a pocket book from his equipment pouch, as he watched the dragon fail two more times to escape, flying around crookedly and always crashing flat on its belly. He drew the basic shape of the dragon: It was long with large wings, small fins right behind its wings, and two tail fins.

"I don't get it," he asked out-loud, "Why don't you just fly away?" The dragon then responded by firing a Plasma Blast at the ground, leaving a scorch mark where it hit. It was only when he looked for a while at the dragon, and then back at his drawing. He looked back the Night Fury once more to see that one of its tail fins was gone.

Naruto then looked back at his drawing, and erased the left tail fin.

The Night Fury tried to fly out once more, only to crash by the lake. For a moment, a fish jumped out of the water, catching the Night Fury's attention. The dragon walked to the edge and peered in, anxiously looking for a meal. Immediately, the dragon dove into the lake to catch one; the dragon's head came out of the water empty handed.

Naruto watched as the poor dragon come out empty handed, he felt bad for doing this to the dragon. He sent down his pencil, but it rolled off the rock he was sitting on, landing in the canyon and giving away his cover.

The Night Fury looked up at Naruto, its green eyes full of suspicion. The blonde froze and stared back at the dragon, which cocked its head and made low grumbling noises. The two just stared at each other, forgetting one almost killed the other, just trying to figure out one another. It was almost as if both Naruto and the Night Fury were curious about one another; as if they were kindred spirits.

Naruto broke from the stare for a bit and started gathering his things. He started climbing back up to the entrance. Hinata noticed this and quickly ran out and took cover behind the trees. Naruto came out before walking down the path back to the village, not looking back. Hinata poked out a bit looking in the direction of Naruto. She sighed before looking at the entrance of the canyon.

She heard from the members of her clan how her crush announced that he shot down the Night Fury. Sure she had her doubts as well but seeing what happened before and seeing the dragon itself made her relieved that he didn't lie. Although, she wondered if she should tell Naruto that she followed him and witnessed what happened. She sighed before getting on the path.

She knew she wouldn't be able to keep this hidden forever. Right now, Naruto's secret was her secret. She wouldn't expose anything that involved her crush in any way. She was actually glad that Naruto found the legendary Night Fury. If anyone could tame that dragon, she knew Naruto could. She then sighed before casting away her thoughts before heading back to the village.

**Next Chapter: One's Reflection and Knowing One's Dragon**

Well I hope you all enjoy this chapter. I know I did :3 Anyways till next time!


	5. One's Reflection & Knowing One's Dragon

Sorry this one took so long but with work and such. Anyways enjoy this chapter everyone :3

**Chapter 5: One's Reflection and Knowing One's Dragon**

The next day came and at the Hyūga Clan Compound an event was taking place. In the main dojo, Hinata was facing a girl younger than her. This was Hanabi Hyūga, Hinata's younger sister and youngest born into the Main Branch of the Hyūga. The spectators were their parents, the elders of the clan and a few others.

Hinata was nervous considering this match was against her younger sister. She knew that the clan techniques caused internal damage as well as blocked tenketsu, reason for not wanting to use it right now. She never wanted to fight her sister but with the elders demanding the match she had little to no choice. She looked over at Hanabi who looked determined to win and gave a sigh and went into position.

In the sidelines, Hikari Hyūga, Hinata and Hanabi's mother, looked at them with worry. She knew this match would cause a conflict between the two on whoever won. It shouldn't matter how strong the heir was as long as they did a good job. Unfortunately, the old ways of their family still held an iron grip. She then looked up at the rafters to see the Terrible Terrors from her garden watching the event as well. She couldn't help but smile knowing the dragons she took care of since childhood watched over her children as well.

Then the proctor of the clan gave the signal to the sisters to begin the match. Both ran at each other with the intent of winning. Hanabi sent out countless palm strikes and Hinata either dodged or swiped away each strike. Hanabi then sent out a kick, which got Hinata in the stomach causing the wind to get knocked out of her. Hanabi then executed palms strikes at her sister, hitting tenketsu points to knock her out. Then she sent out the last strike and caused her older sister to be sent out of the ring sprawling on the floor in pain.

The match was called and Hanabi was declared the winner. The elders watching the match shook their heads. How the heiress of the clan lost to her little sister is beyond them. To them it shows weakness, something they didn't need. Then the head elder gave out a minor cough to catch all the clan's attention.

"It would seem that we have an issue," the head elder declared. "The heiress has lost a fight with her younger sibling. If this continues, we the elders will declare Hinata Hyūga unfit to rule the clan and be branded with the Hyūga Sōke no Juinjutsu (Hyūga Caged Bird Seal)."

This caused the other clan members to mutter, mainly the Branch Family. Brand the heiress of the clan? That was insane! Most of the Branch Family supported Hinata because she was more like her mother than the other members of the Main Family. Then suddenly, a wave of killing intent was felt amongst them. They all turned to see Hikari Hyūga, eyes closed but sporting a creepy smile on her face. Hiashi was scared whenever she got like this.

"You may be the elders," she said in a calm but strong voice. "But let's make one thing clear. You are not to touch any of my daughters as long as I live."

"Hikari-sama," a female elder interjected. "When a decision by the elders is made, then no one from the Head Family can go against it. If your daughter doesn't show the qualities of our clan then she is sentenced to the sealing."

"Then how about a deal," Hikari asked.

"And what deal would that be?" another elder asked.

"The deal will be this," she started. "We hold a match between Hinata and a member of the Main Family. If she wins, then she is free from the seal and keeps her birthright."

"And if she loses?" another elder asked.

"Oh don't worry," Hikari said. "She won't lose!"

"So when shall we host this match?" the female elder said. Hikari thought about this for a bit but came up with a quick answer.

"When she graduates from the Academy, sound fair?" The elders nodded before continuing.

"That is fair," one of them said. "We'll schedule the match in due time. During that time, it'll give us a chance to gather a clan member willing to participate." Hikari nodded and then walked over to her daughter. She then gave her a hug, which Hinata returned.

"I'm sorry they made you do this," she apologized.

"Its fine, Okā-san," Hinata replied before ending the hug with her mother. "I'll be in the garden if anyone needs me." With that Hinata got up and slowly walked towards the direction of her mother's garden. The Terrible Terror's then followed after the Hyūga Heiress to the gardens.

Hikari sighed as her eldest daughter left. She knew that Hinata was more like her than the rest of the family; kind, gentle and caring. Hikari then felt something grab her hand and looked down. It was Hanabi, whose face was filled with sadness.

"Okā-san," Hanabi asked. "Did I make Onē-chan angry?" Hikari sighed a bit and shook her head at her daughter.

"No, dear," she assured. "She's more sad than angry that she had to fight you. Unlike the rest of the family, Hinata doesn't want to bring harm to anyone. It's just how she is. A kind gentle soul forced to live amongst the hardened ways of our clan."

Hanabi nodded at her mother and looked onward where her older sister ventured to. She too didn't want to fight her older sister it was the elders that pitted them against each other. If she had her way she'd make it to where the Clan Head would have the most power and not the elders. Unfortunately, clan politics didn't work that way. She sighed before continuing to worry about Hinata.

* * *

><p>Amongst the Hyūga Clan Compound, the Hyūga Gardens was the most beautiful sight there. Here, Hikari Hyūga tended and cared for the plants and trees that she grew. Not only that, but even dragons made it their home in this garden. A group of Terrible Terrors make their home in the garden's tree where they roost and nest. While on the ground, another species of dragon roams the garden.<p>

These dragons were half the size of Terrible Terrors, mainly around the size of a cockroach. Their scales were colored grey with red skin underneath. They have five pairs of legs for a total of ten legs. Their fierce eyes glow whenever it got dark. They resemble lizards, with their wide heads and long bodies. These were known as the Common Fireworms, a Stoker-Class dragon which is known to sometimes light their bodies with intense heat. It is known that if you hold one of these dragons in the palm of your hand you'll receive a major burn in the end.

The reason they live in the garden is because not only do they eat the mice but also insects that harm the garden as well. They rarely set the garden ablaze with their heated bodies. The reason for that is Hikari took care of most of the dragons in the garden, thus common knowledge amongst them says, "Never torch one's home."

A single Fireworm scattered for cover as Hinata entered the garden. The hint of sadness was etched on her face as she slowly walked to one of the benches. Following after were the group of Terrors who watched the match earlier. They gathered around her as she sat down, trying to give her some comfort. One of the Terrors climbed onto the bench and nuzzled against her lap trying to get rid of her sadness. She looked down at the dragon and petted its scales soothingly. She was glad to have the dragons in the garden with her. Unfortunately, her sadness still lingered.

She hated the fact that the elders made her fight her little sister. She never wanted to hurt anyone or anything, but they never listened. The only thing they cared about was the old ways of the Hyūga. They saw if that if a leader was kind they were weak. Her mother though always argued that kindness was not weakness but strength. In the end, they were too stubborn.

"Thank you," she said to the dragons. "All of you, but right now I just want to stroll around the garden." With that, Hinata picked up the Terror that was comforting her, set it down on the ground then walked through the garden. The Terrors then followed after the heiress where ever she went.

Hinata continued her stroll, spotting a few Fireworms scatter about. She sighed as she continued on. Her sadness still dwelled inside of her. She then remembered what her mother told her when she was younger. If she ever had a certain emotion that was overwhelming her then the one solution was to sing. She knew she had a wonderful voice, mainly inherited from her mother. She stopped by the pond, looking down at her reflection. Her reflection… herself on the inside; she then began to sing.

"_Look at me. I will never pass for a perfect heiress_," she sang as she continued to look down at her reflection. "… _or a perfect daughter. Can it be I'm not meant to play this part?_" She then got up and started walking through the garden. Above the dragons watched as she sung in her saddened-but-beautiful voice.

"_Now I see that if I were truly to be myself, I would break my family's heart._" She then continued her trek as she stopped by a bird bath where she looked down to her reflection again. She sighed before heading back to the pond continuing her song.

"_Who is that girl I see staring straight back at me? Why is my reflection someone I don't know?_" She sat down in front of the small body of water as she looked down at her rippled reflection to where it cleared up. "_Somehow I cannot hide who I am, though I've tried. When will my reflection show who I am inside?_" Then the water rippled from a teardrop, originating from Hinata's eye. She cried a little as tears continued to fall but then wiped them away.

"_When will my reflection show who I am inside?_" she finished as she started crying again. Then she felt something under her hand to see the Terrible Terror from before nuzzling her. She smiled but not before looking around to see the other Terrors and the Fireworms surrounding her, all with looks of kindness and support. She then picked up the Terror and hugged the dragon affectionately.

"Thank you," she said. "All of you. Where would I be with all of your support?" The only answer was squeaks and chatters from the dragon which made the heiress giggle.

Another Terror in the group had its attention caught by something moving in one of the large flower bushes. It trotted over to the bush giving a quick whiff of it before getting smothered by a large cloud of smoke, causing the dragon to squeak in fright and scampers over to Hinata. Hinata noticed this and picked up the slightly frightened Terror.

"What's wrong?" she asked. She got her answer when the Terror gestured to the flower patch, which had some remnants of the smoke from before. She then put down the Terror before walking over to the patch. She inhaled before giving a long exhale and gently moved the flowers out of the way to see a magnificent sight.

There right before her was a dragon but one she'd never seen before in the gardens. It was around the size of a Terrible Terror but only slightly smaller. The color of its scales was all grey, its mouth was almost as big as its body, and had no discernible neck. It had short, stubby legs and a wingspan equivalent to twice its body length. It also had a long, thin and very spiky tail. Another thing Hinata noticed was one of its wings was a bit swollen and red, indicating a broken wing. She gasped at the sight knowing the poor dragon must have been hurt.

"You poor thing," she said. "Let me tend to-"as she reached out for the dragon it then snapped at her. Luckily she pulled her hand back before the dragon's teeth could sink into her hand. It hissed at her giving out the same smoke that scared one of the Terrors. Hinata thought for a moment on what to do then an idea lit in her head. She then got up, the dragon in question watched, and walked over to a small patch of Dragon Nip. She then picked a few blades of it before walking back over and offered it to the dragon.

"It's okay," she said in a soothing tone. "I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to help with your wing. Here this will soothe you while I mend your injury."

The dragon then slowly came out of the flower patch near Hinata's open palms. It smelled the blades of Dragon Nip in her hand and immediately started consuming the intoxicating herb. Hinata giggled at the dragon's eagerness then noticed its pupils became larger and eyes grew calmer.

"Now," she said getting the doped dragon's attention. "Let us focus on that wing of yours."

She went to one of the supply boxes left in the garden and pulled out a med-kit for dragon care. She then went back to the dragon and proceeded to heal it. She took out two wooden dowels approximately the right length for the dragons wings then placed and tied them together to create a splint. She then placed a special cream she helped create with her mother to bring down swelled areas on dragons. She then gently rubbed on its wing which made the dragon coo in satisfaction.

"There," she said. "Now we're going to have to keep this on for a couple of weeks for it to properly heal. So take it easy, okay?" She got an agreeing screech from the dragon. She then smiled and realized one thing. There was an unknown dragon lying in front of her. This could give her a chance to train it. Then the words of her sensei came to her head. She wasn't allowed to train wild dragons, though that didn't stop the fact that this dragon was in her clan's grounds.

She then turned to the dragon, who was looking back. Her sensei's words echoed in her head, "Try to establish a bond." She then closed her eyes and extended out her hand only inches away from the dragon's snout. The dragon then sniffed her hand a bit before placing its snout into her hand. She jumped a bit from the feeling before opening her eyes to see the dragon, whose eyes were soft and filled with kindness. She smiled and opened her arms and the dragon replied by jumping into her arms and snuggling her. She smiled as she and dragon looked at one another.

"Now to give you a name," she said with a tone of pondering. Suddenly the dragon covered both her and it into a large cloud of smoke. She then coughed a bit from the dragon's affection. "You've got quite the smokescreen there." From that one sentence an idea struck. She smiled before looking to the dragon, which ended the cloud of smoke. "How does the name Smokescreen sound?" She received her answer when the dragon then gave her affectionate licks, which caused her to laugh.

Hinata then got up, carrying her new dragon and proceeded to the direction of her room. Her previous troubles were washed away as Smokescreen snuggled in her embrace which made her smile more. The bond between shinobi and dragon was a wonderful thing. Now the only thing she had to find out was what kind of dragon Smokescreen was.

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><p>"THEY DID WHAT!?" a feminine shout came from the Tara Clan Head household. A few dragons nearby heard the yell and got out of there. If there was one thing any member of the Tara Clan knew was this, never get on Asuto's bad side or you'd have an axe in your back.<p>

Inside, Shakkuri was trying to calm down his raging, pregnant wife. Mjölnir, on the other hand, was cowering behind the couch. The dragon knew that if she was angry then head for the hills. Thanks to her pregnancy though, her emotions doubled thanks to the hormones. Sure he was a dragon but any living creature knew an ancient wise saying, "Hell hath no fury than a mother's scorn." And boy was she in a scornful mood.

"Now, dear," Shakkuri tried to calm down his wife. "Calm down-"

"Calm down?" she said with venom in her voice. "Calm DOWN!? After what those brats did? If I see them I'm going to-"she then let out a scream and slammed her fist down on the coffee table which split in two. Shakkuri then took his place next to Mjölnir behind the couch, both shivering to the power and anger of a hormonal mother. Asuto then calmed down before sitting down on the couch with sigh.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "It's the mood swings."

'Yeah no kidding,' Shakkuri thought as he came out from his hiding place and sat next to his wife. "You feel better?" She then leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Only a little," she replied before looking at the split coffee table. "Sorry about the table."

"No worries," he assured her. "We'll replace it later. Besides, don't worry about those three students. They've been suspended for 3 weeks plus the Hokage made sure their parents make them do community service for the stunt they pulled." Asuto smiled a little but then turned to her husband.

"What I want to know," she asked in wonder. "Is how the hell they got their hands on a piece of Dragon Root? There shouldn't be any in the village right?"

"I have one theory," Shakkuri said. "I believe Damasu's parents had it stored away and didn't want anyone to know. That way they could use it whenever they and the other civilians had Naruto cornered and make to where he was a victim of a dragon attack. But-"He then sighed, which Asuto took notice.

"But?" she asked.

"But," he continued. "When the Hokage sent ANBU to investigate there was no trace of the Dragon Root. So the charges were dropped but I wouldn't put it behind me thinking they got rid of it immediately when they got wind of hearing what their child did."

This made Asuto make a fist in anger. How dare those civilians even allow this? It was like assisting in murder. Her thoughts were broken as Shakkuri brought her in into a love-filled kiss. She tensed a bit before melting into the kiss. After a minute, they ended a kiss and smiled at one another. Suddenly the sound of the front door opening got their attention.

They turned to see Naruto walk in with bags of groceries. He closed the door and then turned to face them only to focus the state of the coffee table. He looked back at them then back at the table before speaking.

"Um, should I ask why the coffee table is split in half?" he asked with a raised brow. Asuto only blushed a bit in embarrassment.

"Sorry about that," she apologized. "My mood swings kind of got the better of me."

"Ah," Naruto answered back before taking the bag of groceries to the kitchen. Shakkuri then got up and followed the blonde to the kitchen.

"So did that note work for you?" Shakkuri asked. Naruto smiled as he put away the groceries.

"Yeah it did," he answered. "You should have seen the look of the shop owner's face. It looked like he was having a run in with a Flightmare. I should have taken a picture." Shakkuri chuckled at this while helping with the groceries.

"Well I'm glad that helped," he said. "Before I forget, the new edition of the Book of Dragons is up in your room. It should be on your bed."

"Thanks, Otō-san." Naruto said as he walked up to his room. Shakkuri smiled before finishing up putting up the groceries. As he finished he turned to see his wife, Asuto, eating a bowl of what appears to be strawberry ice cream and pickles to replace the bananas.

"What?" she asked. "The baby wanted this." She took another bite of the "exotic" meal as Shakkuri sweat dropped at this.

Naruto open the door to his room and there on his bed he saw the Book of Dragons. This book contained information of every known dragon to exist in the world. It seems to gain more pages every year because of the new species being discovered all round. He picked up the book and brought it over to his desk. He then sat down and opened it, reading its contents.

"Dragon Classifications," he said to himself as he read the contents of the book, "Strike Class, Fear Class, Mystery Class, Tidal Class, Sharp Class, Boulder Class, Stoker Class, and…Tracker Class?" He then turned the pages to the part identifying the "Tracker Class" section of the book. Once he reached it, he then read its pages.

"Tracker Class," he said as he read on. "This class of dragons is renowned for their highly acute sense of smell to track down items and individuals. A well-known species of this class is the Rumblehorn. See the page for more info." He shrugged and turned the pages to other dragon species.

He stopped on a page showing a particular dragon. It appeared large in size and had four heads. The scales of its body were colored green similar to Zipplebacks and each head had jaws that open three different ways, which resembles a flower blooming. It also had spikes on their neck, body and tail that look similar to leaves. The picture of the dragon with its mouth open with its three tongues out, similar to a flower in bloom. Naruto then read the name listed for the dragon.

"The Devious Snaptrapper," he said as he continued reading. "This wild dragon has been known to have one of the best camouflages of the Fear Class. It entices many into its deadly honey-scented trap. When threatened, the Snaptrapper will spray a poisonous acid that seeps into the bloodstream, causing indescribable pain that makes its victims numb to move. It can be tamed with two things it loves most, water and mud. Since these dragons seclude to sunny areas, its body tends to dehydrate quickly so wetting the dragon's body will allow approach. They also enjoy playing in the mud, so wetting the ground around them will make them more willing to be trained. Extremely dangerous, proceed with caution." Naruto continued to look at the flytrap-like dragon with interest. He heard from the Sandaime Hokage that these dragons live at a certain forest near Konoha, but he couldn't remember which one. He was hoping to encounter this dragon sometime in the future.

He turned to the next page, seeing a dragon with a head resembling that of a turtle's. It was shown spewing water at the human figures, which were either burned or melted. Its size was large and its body had a cauldron-like shape to it. It had four stubby and powerful legs. Its tail looked like that of a fish but more positioned like a whale's tail fin. It also had two string-like whiskers connected to the upper jaw similar to a catfish.

"The Scauldron," he read. "Named after its method of attack, it collects water in its large mouth and heats it within its stomach that boils like a cauldron. The water collected gets so hot that it can literally melt skin and soften bone at close range. The Scauldron also has venom stored in its sharp fangs which, if injected, can kill a man in 24 hours. If one covers themselves in the scent of their home, such as salt water or fish oil, a Scauldron can be trained. Extremely dangerous, proceed with caution."

Naruto then turned the page and came upon a dragon within the Mystery Class of the book. It was approximately the same size as the Terrible Terror, maybe a little bigger, and it was entirely grey. The mouth was almost as big as its body, and had no discernible neck. It had short, stubby legs and a wingspan equivalent to over twice its body length. It also had a long, thin, and very spiky tail. Naruto raised a brow at this dragon and then read its name.

"The Smothering Smokebreath," he said as he continued to read on.

* * *

><p>At the Hyūga Compound, Hinata at the same time was studying the Book of Dragons. Unlike Naruto, she had last year's edition of the book. She looked over at her bed to see Smokescreen, curled up asleep and cradling a small metal rod. She hadn't the foggiest idea where he got the rod but she then continued on reading as she found the page she was looking for.<p>

"The Smothering Smokebreath," she read. "This dragon is known to live in large colonies within Breakneck Bog, on the 'thumb' of the Tsukiyomi no Te (Hand of Tsukiyomi) near the Nami no Kuni. It can create a veil of smoke to hide themselves from enemies or victims. Because of this ability, it was thought to be some kind of 'living fog' and became legendary. Even though it is entered in the Book of Dragons, it was considered a myth and most believed to be the work of a 'Fog Monster'. They are known to breathe smoke as well as expel hot flames, since it is capable of melting metal in a matter of moments. Smokebreaths are known to be attracted and collect shiny, metallic objects. They do this to construct nests to defend themselves from larger dragons. Extremely dangerous, proceed with caution."

Hinata continued to look at what it said about the Smokebreaths. If these dragons lived in large colonies then why was Smokescreen all by himself? She then looked at the splint Smokescreen had on his wing, remembering it was injured. He must have either gotten abandoned or exiled by his colony. That was why he was in the garden alone and injured.

She looked at her new friend, who was still asleep and let out a smoke puffed yawn. She giggled, got up and walked over to the Smokebreath. Smokescreen awoke and saw Hinata walking over to him. She smiled, sitting next to him and petted his scaly head. He purred at her touch which caused her to smile more. Suddenly a knock was heard at her bedroom door.

Hinata tensed a bit before scooping up the Smokebreath in her arms and set him on the floor. She gestured him to hide under her bed, which he responded immediately and zoomed under. She composed herself before sitting on the bed looking to her door.

"Come in!" she called out. The door opened to reveal Kō Hyūga, her personal bodyguard. He walked in and gave a minor bow to the heiress.

"Hinata-sama," he said. "Hikari-sama has sent me to escort you to the dojo for training."

"Yes," she said. "Thank you, Kō. I'll be right with you shortly." He nodded before exiting her room. She sighed before looking under the bed where Smokescreen was. He squeaked a bit before Hinata petted him.

"I'll be gone for a bit," she said to her dragon. "Be a good boy while I'm gone, okay?" Her answer was a lick on her hand as she giggled from the touch. She then left the room, leaving the dragon alone.

The Smokebreath then came out from his hiding place and looked around. He'd never been in a human settlement before and he liked it right now. Though his mind wandered, mostly to whether Hinata would get back or not. The dragon then took matters in his own hands, well claws in this case, and proceeded to climb the high shelves of the room. He saw a metal screen which vented the AC through the compound. Giving a good intake of breath, Smokescreen then breathed a torrent of flame at the screen, melting it completely. The dragon smiled before venturing into the vents in hopes to finding where Hinata had gone off to.

* * *

><p>Back at the Tara Compound, Naruto was still reading the Book of Dragons. He had finished reading several pages which held different species of dragons. He then finally reached the page he was looking for, the one dragon he was most interested in. The one page that was practically blank in the entire Book of Dragons.<p>

"The Night Fury," he said as he read. "Speed: Unknown. Size: Unknown. The unholy offspring of lightning and the Shinigami itself. Never engage this dragon. You're only chance: Hide and pray it doesn't find you."

Naruto then pulled out his pocket book from his equipment pouch, and opened it to the page where the picture of the Night Fury was. Surely from what he saw in the canyon, this dragon couldn't be as bad as the book said it was. Sure, in the past, the species had attacked several outer villages, but with one flaw as simple as a faulty tail fin, this dragon no more of a threat than he was. Plus, once Naruto freed it from the rope, it didn't kill him when it had the chance.

It was there that Naruto decided he had to see the Night Fury again. He started gathering his tools and supplies and places them into a regular-sized backpack. He then proceeded down the stairs and to the front door. He then turned towards the kitchen and called out to Shakkuri.

"Hey Otō-san," he called out. "I'm heading out to train."

"Alright," Shakkuri replied. "Be back before dark, okay?"

"I will!"

With that, Naruto then exited the house. He looked around making sure the coast was clear and then proceeded to the storage shed. He carefully opened the door and opened the chest which stored the dragon's food, large varieties of fish. He grabbed one, a large salmon to be precise and placed the fish into a bag and then into his backpack. He exited the shed and took off to the forest. One thing was on his mind, find the Night Fury and train it.

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><p><strong>Well that's Ch. 5 everyone :3 Anyways I have an announcement to make. To let everyone know I have an crossover audio drama in the making. Thus, this fanfiction will be a minor hiatus but not neglected. But once I complete my audio drama I'll smother you all with the wonderful chapters again :3 So until then, enjoy! And before I forget! The dragon entries that I gotten were from the wonderful Blue - The First Traveller and his handy dandy "The Dragon Manuel - The Book of Dragons" located here s10442133/22/The-Dragon-Manual-The-Book-of-Dragons  
><strong>

**Next Chapter: A Forbidden Friendship and the Smokey Clan Tussle**


	6. The Forbidden Friendship

**Hey guys, Aaron1248 here! I know its been a while since the last update and I feel pretty bad taking too long with the script. So I've decided to finish up this chapter for you guys! Also to show that I ain't dead. Anyways enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 6: A Forbidden Friendship and a Smokey Clan Tussle<strong>

Deep in the forest outside of Konoha, Naruto once again arrived at the canyon cove that the Night Fury trapped itself in. He found a lower entrance so he wouldn't have to climb in or out of the cove. He hid behind two rocks just at the entrance and threw the fish inside, but nothing happened. He peaked out to see if it was safe to enter, seeing it was he then entered and grabbed the fish.

He walked around the area, but there was no sign of the dragon anywhere. Unaware of it, not one bit since he walked in, the Night Fury wasn't far. Hiding behind the rocks behind Naruto, crouched like a big cat, looking at the blonde child. The Night Fury then crawled out from the rocks, causing Naruto to turn around immediately and gasp. The dragon walked around as it walked in a crouched position, carefully observing Naruto if he tried anything.

Naruto gulped a bit before holding out the salmon, hoping to make peace with the Night Fury. The dragon spotted the fish immediately, and seemed to relax a bit. This was evident as it eyes dilated from slits to round irises, almost as if the dragon was some sort of kitten/puppy. Naruto couldn't help but chuckle at this; fear leaving him completely.

The dragon inched forward and opened its mouth, exposing healthy pink gums, not being noticed by Naruto at all. As soon as it got close, realization came to its eyes and it backed off. Naruto tensed a bit, he knew that it knew he had weapons. He first reached down to his right leg, unstrapping his kunai holster, slowly. The Night Fury growled, but he dropped it. He then reached for his back equipment pouch, unhooking it and dropping it as well.

The dragon motioned its head towards the water, as if it… or he… was trying to tell Naruto to kick his tools away. Naruto sighed before using his feet to kick the holster and pouch into the water. As soon as the dragon heard both items hit the lake it sat down and its haunches and looked at Naruto with big, expecting eyes; its ears twitching. Naruto smiled at this, thinking the Night Fury, the one dragon that everyone thought was the devil, was some kind of innocent kitten/puppy.

Naruto held out the fish again and the dragon inched closer. When it got close enough it opened its mouth again. Naruto then noticed the pink gums, not a tooth in sight.

"Huh, toothless," he said holding out the fish. "I could have sworn you had-"Just as he said it, rows of teeth suddenly appeared in the dragon's mouth. The not-so-toothless dragon snatched the fish out of Naruto's hands, bit it in two, and swallowed it. "Teeth." Naruto finished as the dragon licked its lips with its thick forked tongue.

'They're retractable like cat claws,' Naruto thought as he looked at the dragon. 'That must be for when it shoots out a Plasma Blast. To make sure it doesn't blow out its own teeth.' He then said aloud with a half grin, "That's useful."

The dragon then looked at Naruto and walked towards him, making low rumbling noises deep in its throat. Naruto backed up until he stumbled into a large rock and sat down in front of it.

"No, no. No," Naruto pleaded nervously, as the dragon got right into his face. "I don't have anymore," he told it.

The dragon's eyes then rolled back and it started to convulse. It opened its mouth, and out came half of the fish Naruto gave it. The fish then landed on the boy's lap, as he nearly gagged, "Ugh…"

Then the dragon sat down, human position-wise, and looked at Naruto. Naruto sat there uncomfortably while the dragon stared at him. He looked straight at the dragon, and the dragon just looked back at him.

Naruto cocked an eyebrow as he finally said, "What?" The dragon then gestured to him then to the fish. Realizing what the dragon wanted him to do Naruto groaned, "Wait! You want me to…?" The dragon merely looked at him, silently giving the boy the answer. He then sighed in disgust, "Great."

He slowly brought the fish up towards his mouth and bit into it. And immediately, it tasted absolutely vile.

"Mmm," Naruto mumbled, trying to show the Night Fury that he ate the fish. Unfortunately, it was pretty obvious that it was smarter than he thought. The dragon then made a loud gulping noise, telling him to swallow it.

Naruto groaned a bit, humming out, 'Oh, come on!' With all his willpower and might, mostly from his stomach, he tried to force down the disgusting, once already-eaten-but-thrown-up fish. It took a few tries, once try to ensure he wouldn't puke, but he succeeded, as he gulped down the fish and shivered from the bad taste now present in his mouth.

The Night Fury licked its lips again, and Naruto looked at it and gave it his fox-grin. The dragon then looked at him, squinting its eyes as it studied the blonde's facial features. After a few seconds of silence, the sides of the dragon's mouth came up in a weird sort of toothless smile, since it had retracted its teeth again.

"Toothless" Naruto thought aloud as the dragon heard him, "That's what I'll call you. Toothless."

He looked at the dragon's silly attempt at a smile, stifling a laugh or two of his own. Without thinking, he got back on to his feet, and reached out his hand to touch the dragon. Before he could, it then bared its teeth with a growl and glided to the other end of the canyon, landing roughly.

It then lit the ground it stood atop of on fire, and laid down in the warm flames. He folding his wings in the back, but they left open still and spread out on both sides, and had his tail curled nearly up to his stomach as he relaxed in his spot. Toothless then heard chirping as he looked up to see a bird taking off from its perch on a branch, flying away as his ears stood straight up. His gaze followed the bird until they fell onto Naruto, who had moved from the other end of the cove and was now sitting Indian style on the ground beside Toothless.

"Hey," Naruto said casually to the Night Fury, as if it was just common for the boy and dragon to act friendly.

The dragon then set his ears back against his head, and groaned. Though it wasn't a groan of anger or hatred, just more of annoyed. Toothless then shifted his body so that when he laid down, he hid his face with his remaining tail fin.

Naruto sighed at this, knowing it wasn't going to be easy to get on the dragon's good side. He then scooted closer to the dragon and reached out his hand, trying to touch him again. Right before he could place his hand on the dragon's tail, Toothless folded his tail fin down and out of the way, just in time to see Naruto.

Not wanting the dragon to notice what he was trying to do, which it obviously did, Naruto shot up, rotated 180 degrees around on his heel, and comically walked away. Toothless snorted before walking over to a large tree, jumping up on one of the stronger branches, and perching himself on a branch. Amazingly, he was able to do this by hanging upside down by his tail, and hiding within his wings like a bat. The Night Fury then fell asleep hoping the child would be gone by the time he woke up.

* * *

><p>Within the Hyūga Compound's ventilation system, Smokescreen was crawling through the corridors of metal. He sniffed around for Hinata's scent but unfortunately couldn't pick it up. The little dragon let out a puff of smoke in frustration and continued on. Something caught his eye to the right of and he went to investigate. He saw grate in the vent, signifying a way out. Without haste he took in a breath of air and let loose a blast of fire and melted it. Crawling out caused him to fall to the wooden floor with a surprised squeak. He shook himself and looked around the room. It was similar to Hinata's room but it seemed to have more plush toys in it. He took notice of an individual on the bed.<p>

It was a girl, specifically Hanabi Hyūga. She at the moment was taking a nap. Her breathing was calm and relaxed. She appeared similar to Hinata to Smokescreen, causing him to crawl onto her bed. The Smothering Smokebreath crawled up to the Hyūga girl with interest, getting near her face getting a scent.

Hanabi at the moment was having a wonderful dream. It featured a boy with spikey brown hair wearing a large blue scarf. The sound of breathing stirred her from her rest and she slowly opened her eyes. As her eyes opened, she tensed at the sight of Smokebreath sniffing at her. She immediately jumped up and gave out a loud scream, causing Smokescreen to shriek in fright as he jumbled out of the bed.

The door slid open to reveal one of the Hyūga guards.

"Hanabi-sama," he said. "What's the—"

His sentence was cut short as Smokescreen jumped onto his face. In the process, Smokescreen's fearful retreat turned the guard's face into a large scratching post. This caused the guard to fall to the ground as Smokescreen jumped down and scurried down the hall. The guard seethed in pain before getting up immediately, his Byakugan blazing in anger and his face covered in scratches.

"Wild dragon!" he shouted, alerting the other guards in the vicinity. "Wild dragon in the compound!"

Hinata was walking back to her room at a steady pace. She thought to stop by the compounds kitchen to pick up some food for Smokescreen. She bet that the little dragon would appreciate that. She then took notice of guards running by in a quick pace.

"Um, excuse me," Hinata timidly asked. "What's going on?" One of the guards turned to Hinata.

"There's a wild dragon loose in the compound, Hinata-sama," he said. "It was first seen running from Hanabi-sama's room."

This made Hinata raise a brow in confusion. How could a wild dragon end up in Hanabi's room? Her thoughts were broken when a familiar squeak was heard and she looked in the sounds direction. To her shock, she saw Smokescreen scurrying away from a group of guards chasing after him down the hall. The guard talking to her wasted no time and joined the group after the dragon.

Seeing the guards chasing Smokescreen made Hinata worry. If she didn't do something they were going to hurt the Smokebreath. Without hesitation Hinata ran in to the direction of where Smokescreen went off to. As she entered the room she nearly stifled a laugh. Smokescreen was handling himself quite well. The guards tried to grab him but Smokescreen kept jump from place to place, in this case on top of each guard. Smokescreen was now on top of a female guard, who was flailing to get the fire-breathing reptile off. Smokescreen saw another guard jump at him and he took action by jumping off and the female guard collided with the other guard.

Hinata quietly laughed at the event that took place. She knew Smokescreen wouldn't intentionally hurt the guards but she still worried about the dragon. She saw Smokescreen on a large table, hissing at the group of guards. Without hesitation she signaled to Smokescreen, who took immediate notice of her. She then remembered the lessons from Dragon Training said about hand signals and made a signal where appeared she made a spewing motion from her mouth. Smokescreen took heed and gave a major heave before spewing out a billow of smoke, enveloping the entire room. The guards coughed and wheezed as they were forced to close their eyes. Smokescreen then scampered out of the room towards Hinata, who picked him up and the two rushed out of there.

Hinata ran into a room she believed the guards wouldn't enter. Considering this room was guarded against the Byakugan thanks to minor privacy seals. She pressed her ear to the door and listened for the guards. She heard hastened footsteps pass by and when out of ear-range she sighed in relief.

"That was close," she timidly said. She turned to Smokescreen but saw that he wasn't beside her. "Smokescreen?"

"Hinata," a familiar feminine voice called out. Hinata turned and to her surprise saw her mother, Hikari, holding Smokescreen. He was getting a warming head scratch from the Hyūga matriarch, which he responded with a cooing growl. Her mother gave a knowing smile at her. "Care to explain why this dragon was causing a ruckus in the compound?"

Hinata only answered with a sheepish laugh before lowering her head down in shame.

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><p>The sun was lowering in the sky signifying that evening had come. Toothless unfurled his wings and looked around the canyon. For a moment, he didn't expect the blonde human child to still be around. He was proven wrong, however, as the dragon took a gander at the lake. He saw Naruto sitting on a small rock not facing him. The dragon was a bit amazed at this persistence; he had stayed the entire day, and didn't even run. Why did he do that? Why did he just stay and try to touch him again? This human was a complete puzzle to the Night Fury indeed. He noticed the boy was doing something over there, and curiosity got the better of him as Toothless went to investigate.<p>

Naruto was bored, and boy was he. He was mindlessly drawing in the dirt with a stick, when he heard a familiar growl and a saw shadow looming over him. Toothless was watching him from over his shoulder. Deciding not to turn around, in fear the dragon would just try to shoo him or just go away, Naruto decided to continue with his drawing, almost acting like he didn't notice the Night Fury behind him at all. With a few motions of the stick the lines in the dirt began to take the shape of a dragon, and then became the shape of Toothless.

The dragon watched intently with large eyes, as Naruto drew him in the dirt. While he watched, soft purring noises came from his throat. He was amazed how the boy was able to draw him within the dirt, with accuracy no doubt. Being the intelligent dragon that he was, Toothless had an idea. He stood up on his hind legs, and waddled back to where he was sleeping.

Naruto looked back in confusion as he saw Toothless grab a large tree branch in his mouth, and drag it over to where he had been sitting. The Night Fury held the branch in his mouth, pressed it against the ground and began to twirl around the rock Naruto was seated on. He stopped a few times to look at Naruto and made sure his drawing was correct. He then continued to spin around and around as he copied Naruto's ways.

Once he was satisfied with his picture, Toothless put the branch down and sat on the ground. Naruto was in the middle of the drawing and he stood up to get a better view of the swirls in the dirt. After careful observation, Naruto was astounded as he figured what the swirls and scribbles were. It was an attempted drawing of him; the Night Fury attempted to draw him, just as he drew the dragon.

He went to walk out of the drawing when he stepped on one of the lines. Toothless let out a furious growl, baring his teeth. Naruto took his foot off the line and Toothless' expression became of curiosity and wonder, and began to purr softly. The previous anger immediately forgotten.

After seeing this, Naruto decided to experiment on the subject, and put his foot back on the line. Sure enough, the dragon's expression became vicious again, and when he took it off Toothless began to purr again. Naruto tried this a few more times but stopped before Toothless got too mad. The last thing he wanted was to get eaten just for stepping on a picture.

Naruto smiled at the dragon and began to weave through the lines, placing his feet in the right places like a graceful dance. He twirled and swirled through the lines until he felt breathing down his neck. He turned around and looked up to see Toothless gazing at him, without any ferocity in his eyes.

Naruto slowly lifted up his hand, and Toothless let out a growl, slightly showing his teeth, but this time he didn't back up or run away. Naruto put his hand down a bit before remembering what his father did with Mjölnir. Putting his head down and closed his eyes, he slowly put up his hand again. It stopped a few inches before the dragon's nose.

Toothless' eyes open wide as he looked at the boy's hand, and slowly, very slowly, he closed his eyes…

… and placed his head lightly in Naruto's hand purring softly.

Naruto lifted his head and looked at the dragon in awe. Toothless then opened his eyes and saw Naruto staring at him he shook his head, pupils contracting, and he took off back to where he was sleeping. Naruto just stood there for a minute to grasp to what had just happened. He made a bond with the Night Fury.

He decided that since he made so much progress with Toothless, and that it was getting late that he better start heading back to the village. He was ecstatic as he walked; the feeling of that was amazing. Naruto could wait for the next time when he'd to see the dragon again.

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><p><strong>Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Plz leave reviews. No flaming plz! Also help spot any grammatical errors for editing :)<strong>

**Next Chapter: Kyōshi, the Wandering Sage  
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